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THE  MINISTER  AND  THE  BOY 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OP  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO.  ILLINOIS 


B  gents 
THE  BAKER  &  TAYLOR  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK 

THE  CAMBRIDGE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

LONDON  AND   EDINBURGH 


THE  MINISTER  AND 
THE  BOY 


A   HANDBOOK   FOR   CHURCHMEN 
ENGAGED  IN  BOYS'  WORK 


By 

ALLAN  HOBEN,  PH.D. 

Associate  Professor  of  Practical  Theology,  The  University  of  Chicago 
Field  Secretary  of  the  Chicago  Juvenile  Protective  Association 


-* 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


COPYRIGHT  1912  BY 
THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO 

All  Rights  Reserved 


Published  September  1912 


Composed  and  Printed  By 

The  University  of  Chicago  Press 

Chicago,  Illinois.  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

The  aim  of  this  book  is  to  call  the  attention 
of  ministers  to  the  important  place  which 
boys'  work  may  have  in  furthering  the  King- 
dom of  God.  To  this  end  an  endeavor  is 
made  to  quicken  the  minister's  appreciation  of 
boys,  to  stimulate  his  study  of  them,  and  to 
suggest  a  few  practical  ways  in  which  church 
work  with  boys  may  be  conducted. 

The  author  is  indebted  to  the  Union  Church 
of  Waupun,  Wis.,  and  to  the  First  Baptist 
Church  of  Detroit,  Mich.,  for  the  opportunity 
of  working  out  in  actual  practice  most  of 
the  suggestions  incorporated  in  this  book.  He 
is  also  indebted  to  many  authors,  especially 
to  President  G.  Stanley  Hall,  for  a  point  of 
view  which  throws  considerable  light  upon 
boy  nature.  The  Boy-Scout  pictures  have 
been  provided  by  Mr.  H.  H.  Simmons,  the 
others  by  Mr.  D.  B.  Stewart,  Mrs.  Joseph  T. 
Bowen,  and  the  author.  The  greatest  con- 
tribution is  from  the  boys  of  both  village  and 
city  with  whom  the  author  has  had  the  privi- 
lege of  comradeship  and  from  whom  he  has 
learned  most  of  what  is  here  recorded. 


vi  Preface 

The  material  has  been  used  in  talks  to 
teachers  and  clubs  of  various  sorts,  and  in  the 
Men  and  Religion  Forward  Movement.  The 
requests  following  upon  such  talks  and  arising 
also  from  publication  of  most  of  the  material  in 
the  Biblical  World  have  encouraged  this  attempt 
to  present  a  brief  handbook  for  ministers  and 
laymen  who  engage  in  church  work  for  boys. 

ALLAN  HOBEN 

CHICAGO 
August  19,  1912 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I.  THE  CALL  or  BOYHOOD i 

II.  AN  APPROACH  TO  BOYHOOD    ....  19 

III.  THE  BOY  IN  VILLAGE  AND  COUNTRY      .  36 

IV.  THE  MODERN  CITY  AND  THE  NORMAL  BOY  51 
V.  THE  ETHICAL  VALUE  or  ORGANIZED  PLAY  68 

VI.  THE  BOY'S  CHOICE  or  A  VOCATION        .  92 

VII.  TRAINING  FOR  CITIZENSHIP     ....  105 

VIII.  THE  BOY'S  RELIGIOUS  LIFE    .     .     .     .  121 

IX.  THE  CHURCH  BOYS'  CLUB       ....  147 


Vll 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  CALL  OF  BOYHOOD 

The  Christian  apologetic  for  today  depends 
less  upon  the  arguments  of  speculative  theology 
and  the  findings  of  biblical  science  than  upon 
sociological  considerations.  The  church  is  deal- 
ing with  a  pragmatic  public  which  insists  upon 
knowing  what  this  or  that  institution  accom- 
plishes for  the  common  good.  The  deep  and 
growing  interest  in  social  science,  the  crying 
needs  that  it  lays  bare,  together  with  socialistic 
dreams  of  human  welfare,  compel  Christian 
workers  to  pay  more  heed  to  the  life  that  now 
is,  since  individualistic  views  of  salvation  in 
the  world  to  come  do  not  fully  satisfy  the 
modern  consciousness. 

Hence  the  ministry  is  compelled  more  and 
more  to  address  itself  to  the  salvation  of  the 
community  and  the  nation  after  the  fashion  of 
the  Hebrew  prophets.  Lines  of  distinction  also 
between  what  is  religious  and  what  is  secular 
in  education  and  in  all  human  intercourse 
have  become  irregular  or  dim;  and  the  task  of 
bringing  mankind  to  fulness  and  perfection 
of  life  has  become  the  task  alike  of  the  educator, 


2  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

the  minister,  the  legislator,  and  the  social 
worker.  In  fact,  all  who  in  any  capacity  put 
their  hands  to  this  noble  undertaking  are  co- 
workers  with  Him  whose  divine  ideal  was  to  be 
consummated  in  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth. 

The  ministry,  therefore,  is  taking  on  a  great 
variety  of  forms  of  service,  and  the  pastor  is 
overtaxed.  The  church,  moreover,  is  slow  to 
recognize  the  principle  of  the  division  of  labor 
and  to  employ  a  sufficient  number  of  paid 
officers.  Only  the  pressing  importance  of  work 
for  boys  can  excuse  one  for  suggesting  another 
duty  to  the  conscientious  and  overworked 
pastor.  Already  too  much  has  been  delegated 
to  him  alone.  Every  day  his  acknowledged 
obligations  outrun  his  time  and  strength,  and 
he  must  choose  but  a  few  of  the  many  duties 
ever  pressing  to  be  done.  Yet  there  is  no 
phase  of  that  larger  social  and  educational 
conception  of  the  pastor's  work  that  has  in  it 
more  of  promise  than  his  ministry  to  boys. 
Whatever  must  be  neglected,  the  boy  should 
not  be  overlooked. 

To  answer  this  complex  demand  and  the 
call  of  boyhood  in  particular  the  pastor  must 
be  a  leader  and  an  organizer.  Otherwise, 
troubles  and  vicissitudes  await  him.  In  every 
field  unused  possibilities  hasten  the  day  of  his 


The  Call  of  Boyhood  3 

departure.  Idle  persons  who  should  have  been 
led  into  worthy  achievement  for  Christ  and 
the  church  fall  into  critical  gossip,  and  there 
soon  follows  another  siege  perilous  for  the 
minister's  freight-wracked  furniture,  another 
flitting  experience  for  his  homeless  children, 
another  proof  of  his  wife's  heroic  love,  and 
another  scar  on  his  own  bewildered  heart. 

It  is,  indeed,  difficult  for  the  pastor  to  adopt 
a  policy  commensurate  with  modern  demands. 
He  should  lead,  but  on  the  other  hand  a  very 
legitimate  fear  of  being  discredited  through 
failure  deters  him;  traditional  methods  hold 
the  field;  peace  at  any  price  and  pleasurable 
satisfaction  play  a  large  part  in  church  affairs; 
the  adult,  whose  character  is  already  formed, 
receives  disproportionate  attention;  money  for 
purposes  of  experimentation  in  church  work 
is  hard  to  get;  everything  points  to  modera- 
tion and  the  beaten  path;  and  the  way  of  the 
church  is  too  often  the  way  of  least  resistance. 
Small  wonder  if  the  minister  sometimes  capitu- 
lates to  things  as  they  are  and  resigns  himself 
to  the  ecclesiastical  treadmill. 

It  requires  no  small  amount  of  courage 
to  be  governed  by  the  facts  as  they  confront 
the  intelligent  pastor,  to  direct  one's  effort 
where  it  is  most  needed  and  where  it  will, 


4  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

in  the  long  run,  produce  the  greatest  and  best 
results.  To  be  sure,  the  adult  needs  the 
ministry  of  teaching,  inspiration,  correction,  and 
comfort  to  fit  him  for  daily  living;  but,  as 
matters  now  stand,  the  chief  significance  of  the 
adult  lies  in  the  use  that  can  be  made  of  him 
in  winning  the  next  generation  for  Christ.  In 
so  far  as  the  adult  membership  may  contribute 
to  this  it  may  lay  claim  to  the  best  that  the 
minister  has.  In  so  far  as  it  regards  his  min- 
istry as  a  means  of  personal  pleasure,  gratifi- 
cation, and  religious  luxury,  it  is  both  an  insult 
to  him  and  an  offense  to  his  Master. 

A  successful  ministry  to  boys,  whether  by 
the  pastor  himself  or  by  those  whom  he  shall 
inspire  and  guide,  is  fundamental  in  good 
pastoral  work.  Boys  now  at  the  age  of  twelve 
or  fifteen  will,  in  a  score  of  years,  manage  the 
affairs  of  the  world.  All  that  has  been  accom- 
plished— the  inventions,  the  wealth,  the  expe- 
rience in  education  and  government,  the  vast 
industrial  and  commercial  systems,  the  admin- 
istration of  justice,  the  concerns  of  religion — 
all  will  pass  into  their  control;  and  they  who, 
with  the  help  of  the  girls  of  today,  must  admin- 
ister the  world's  affairs,  are,  or  may  be,  in  our 
hands  now  when  their  ideals  are  nascent  and 
their  whole  natures  in  flux. 


The  Call  of  Boyhood  5 

Boys'  work,  then,  is  not  providing  harmless 
amusement  for  a  few  troublesome  youngsters; 
it  is  the  natural  way  of  capturing  the  modern 
world  for  Jesus  Christ.  It  lays  hold  of  life  in 
the  making,  it  creates  the  masters  of  tomorrow; 
and  may  pre-empt  for  the  Kingdom  of  God  the 
varied  activities  and  startling  conquests  of  our 
titanic  age.  Think  of  the  great  relay  of  un- 
tamed and  unharnessed  vigor,  a  new  nation 
exultant  in  hope,  undaunted  as  yet  by  the 
experiences  that  have  halted  the  passing  gen- 
eration: what  may  they  not  accomplish?  As 
significant  as  the  awakening  of  China  should 
the  awakening  of  this  new  nation  be  to  us. 
In  each  case  the  call  for  leadership  is  impera- 
tive, and  the  best  ability  is  none  too  good. 
Dabblers  and  incompetent  persons  will  work 
only  havoc,  whether  in  the  Celestial  Empire  or 
in  the  equally  potent  Kingdom  of  Boyhood. 
The  bookworm,  of  course,  is  unfit  even  if  he 
could  hear  the  call,  and  the  nervous  wreck  is 
doomed  even  if  he  should  hear  it;  but  the  fit 
man  who  hears  and  heeds  may  prevent  no  small 
amount  of  delinquency  and  misery,  and  may 
deliver  many  from  moral  and  social  insolvency. 

If  a  minister  can  do  this  work  even  indirectly 
he  is  happy,  but  if  he  can  do  it  directly  by 
virtue  of  his  wholesome  character,  his  genuine 


6  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

knowledge  and  love  of  boys,  his  athletic  skill, 
and  his  unabated  zest  for  life,  his  lot  is  above 
that  of  kings  and  his  reward  above  all  earthly 
riches. 

Then,  too,  it  is  not  alone  the  potential  value 
of  boys  for  the  Kingdom  of  God,  and  what 
the  minister  may  do  for  them;  but  what  may 
they  not  do  for  him?  How  fatal  is  the  boy 
collective  to  all  artificiality,  sanctimony,  weak- 
ness, make-believe,  and  jointless  dignity;  and 
how  prone  is  the  ministry  to  these  psychological 
and  semi-physical  pests!  For,  owing  to  the 
demands  of  the  pulpit  and  of  private  and  social 
intercourse,  the  minister  finds  it  necessary  to 
talk  more  than  most  men.  He  must  also 
theorize  extensively  because  of  the  very  nature 
of  theological  discipline.  Moreover,  he  is 
occupied  particularly  with  those  affairs  of  the 
inner  life  which  are  as  intangible  as  they  are 
important.  His  relation  with  people  is  largely 
a  Sunday  relation,  or  at  any  rate  a  religious 
one,  and  he  meets  them  on  the  pacific  side. 
Very  naturally  they  reveal  to  him  their  best 
selves,  and,  true  to  Christian  charity  and  train- 
ing, he  sees  the  best  in  everyone.  If  the  women 
of  his  parish  receive  more  than  their  proper 
share  of  attention  the  situation  is  proportion- 
ately worse.  It  follows  that  the  minister  needs 


The  Call  of  Boyhood  7 

the  most  wholesome  contact  with  stern  reality 
in  order  to  offset  the  subtle  drift  toward  a 
remote,  theoretical,  or  sentimental  world.  In 
this  respect  commercial  life  is  more  favorable 
to  naturalness  and  virility;  while  a  fair  amount 
of  manual  labor  is  conducive  to  sanity,  mental 
poise,  and  sound  judgment  as  to  the  facts  of 
life.  The  minister  must  have  an  elemental 
knowledge  of  and  respect  for  objective  reality; 
and  he  must  know  human  nature. 

Now  among  all  the  broad  and  rich  human 
contacts  that  can  put  the  minister  in  touch 
with  vital  realities  there  is  none  so  electric, 
so  near  to  revelation  as  the  boy.  Collectively 
he  is  frank  to  the  point  of  cruelty  and  as 
elemental  as  a  savage.  Confronted  alone  and 
by  the  minister,  who  is  not  as  yet  his  chum, 
he  reveals  chiefly  the  minister's  helplessness. 
Taken  in  company  with  his  companions  and  in 
his  play  he  is  a  veritable  searchlight  laying  bare 
those  manly  and  ante-professional  qualities 
which  must  underlie  an  efficient  ministry. 
Later  life,  indeed,  wears  the  mask,  praises  dry 
sermons,  smiles  when  bored,  and  takes  careful 
precautions  against  spontaneity  and  the  indis- 
cretions of  unvarnished  truth;  but  the  boy 
among  his  fellows  and  on  his  own  ground  rep- 
resents the  normal  and  unfettered  reaction  of 


8  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

the  human  heart  to  a  given  personality.  The 
minister  may  be  profoundly  benefited  by  know- 
ing and  heeding  the  frank  estimate  of  a 
"bunch"  of  boys.  They  are  the  advance 
agents  of  the  final  judgment;  they  will  find 
the  essential  man.  May  it  not  be  with  him  as 
with  Kipling's  Tomlinson,  who,  under  the 
examination  of  both  "Peter"  and  the  "little 
devils,"  was  unable  to  qualify  for  admission 
either  to  heaven  or  hell: 

And  back  they  came  with  the  tattered  Thing,  as 

children  after  play, 
And  they  said:  "The  soul  that  he  got  from  God  he  has 

bartered  clean  away. 
We  have  threshed  a  stook  of  print  and  book,  and 

winnowed  a  chattering  wind 
And  many  a  soul  wherefrom  he  stole,  but  his  we 

cannot  find: 
We  have  handled  him,  we  have  dandled  him,  we  have 

seared  him  to  the  bone, 
And  sure  if  tooth  and  nail  show  truth  he  has  no  soul 

of  his  own." 

Fortunately,  however,  ministerial  profession- 
alism is  on  the  wane.  Protestantism,  in  its 
more  democratic  forms,  rates  the  man  more 
and  the  office  less,  and  present-day  tests  of 
practical  efficiency  are  adverse  to  empty  titles 
and  pious  assumption.  To  be  "Reverend" 
means  such  character  and  deeds  as  compel 


The  Call  of  Boyhood  9 

reverence  and  not  the  mere  "laying  on  of  hands." 
Work  with  boys  discovers  this  basis,  for  there 
is  no  place  for  the  holy  tone  in  such  work,  nor 
for  the  strained  and  vapid  quotation  of  Scrip- 
ture, no  place  for  excessively  feminine  virtues, 
nor  for  the  professional  hand-shake  and  the 
habitual  inquiry  after  the  family's  health. 
In  a  very  real  sense  many  a  minister  can  be 
saved  by  the  boys;  he  can  be  saved  from  that 
invidious  classification  of  adult  society  into 
"men,  women,  and  ministers,"  which  is  credited 
to  the  sharp  insight  of  George  Eliot. 

The  minister  is  also  in  need  of  a  touch  of 
humor  in  his  work.  The  sadness  of  human 
failure  and  loss,  the  insuperable  difficulties  of 
his  task,  the  combined  woes  of  his  parish,  the 
decorum  and  seriousness  of  pulpit  work — all 
operate  to  dry  up  the  healthy  spring  of  humor 
that  bubbled  up  and  overran  in  his  boyhood 
days.  What  health  there  is  in  a  laugh,  what 
good-natured  endurance  in  the  man  whose 
humor  enables  him  to  "side-step"  disastrous 
and  unnecessary  encounters  and  to  love  people 
none  the  less,  even  when  they  provoke  inward 
merriment.  The  boys'  pastor  will  certainly  take 
life  seriously,  but  he  cannot  take  it  somberly. 
Somewhere  in  his  kind,  honest  eye  there  is  a 
glimmer,  a  blessed  survival  of  his  own  boyhood. 


io  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

So,  being  ministered  to  by  the  comradeship 
of  boys,  he  retains  his  sense  of  fun,  fights  on  in 
good  humor,  detects  and  saves  himself  on  the 
verge  of  pious  caricature  and  solemn  bathos; 
knows  how  to  meet  important  committees  on 
microscopic  reforms  as  well  as  self-appointed 
theological  inquisitors  and  all  the  insistent 
cranks  that  waylay  a  busy  pastor.  Life  cannot 
grow  stale;  and  by  letting  the  boys  lead  him 
forth  by  the  streams  of  living  water  and  into 
the  whispering  woods  he  catches  again  the  wild 
charm  of  that  all-possible  past:  the  smell 
of  the  campfire,  the  joyous  freedom  and  good 
health  of  God's  great  out-of-doors.  Genius 
and  success  in  life  depend  largely  upon  retain- 
ing the  boyish  quality  of  enthusiastic  abandon 
to  one's  cause,  the  hearty  release  of  one's 
entire  energy  in  a  given  pursuit,  and  the  con- 
viction that  the  world  is  ever  new  and  all  things 
possible.  The  thing  in  men  that  defies  failure 
is  the  original  boy,  and  "no  man  is  really  a  man 
who  has  lost  out  of  him  all  the  boy." 

The  boy  may  also  be  a  very  practical  helper 
in  the  pastor's  work.  In  every  community 
there  are  some  homes  in  which  the  pastor 
finds  it  almost  impossible  to  create  a  welcome 
for  himself.  Misconceptions  of  long  standing, 
anti-church  sentiments,  old  grievances  block 


The  Call  of  Boyhood  n 

the  way.  But  if  in  such  a  home  there  is  a  boy 
whose  loyalty  the  pastor  has  won  through 
association  in  the  boys'  club,  at  play,  in  camp- 
anywhere  and  anyhow — his  eager  hand  will 
open  both  home  and  parental  hearts  to  the 
wholesome  friendship  and  kindly  counsel  of 
the  minister  of  Christ.  When  the  boy's  welfare 
is  at  stake  how  many  prejudices  fade  away! 
The  reliable  sentiment  of  fathers  and  mothers 
dictates  that  he  who  takes  time  to  know  and 
help  their  boy  is  of  all  persons  a  guest  to  be 
welcomed  and  honored,  and  withal,  a  practical 
interpreter  of  Christianity.  The  pastor  whose 
advance  agent  is  a  boy  has  gracious  passport 
into  the  homes  where  he  is  most  needed.  He 
has  a  friend  at  court.  His  cause  is  almost 
won  before  he  has  uttered  one  syllable  of  a 
formal  plea. 

Further,  it  must  be  apparent  to  all  intelli- 
gent observers  that  the  churches  in  most  com- 
munities are  in  need  of  a  more  visible  social 
sanction  for  their  existence.  In  the  thought  of 
many  they  are  expensive  and  over-numerous 
institutions  detached  from  the  actual  com- 
munity life  and  needs.  Boys'  work  constitutes 
one  visible  strand  of  connection  with  the  live 
needs  of  the  neighborhood;  and,  human  nature 
being  what  it  is,  this  tangible  service  is 


12  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

essential  to  the  formation  of  a  just,  popular 
estimate  of  the  church  and  the  ministry.  Talk 
is  easy  and  the  market  is  always  overstocked. 
The  shortage  is  in  deeds,  and  the  doubtful 
community  is  saying  to  the  minister,  "What  do 
you  do?"  It  is  well  if  among  other  things  of 
almost  equal  importance  he  can  reply,  "We 
are  saving  your  boys  from  vice  and  low  ideals, 
from  broken  health  and  ruined  or  useless  lives, 
by  providing  for  wholesome  self-expression 
under  clean  and  inspiring  auspices.  The  Cor- 
ban  of  false  sanctity  has  been  removed;  our 
plant  and  our  men  are  here  to  promote  human 
welfare  hi  every  legitimate  way."  Boys'  work 
affords  a  concrete  social  sanction  that  has 
in  it  a  wealth  of  sentiment  and  far-reaching 
implications. 

Closely  allied  with  this  is  the  help  that  the 
boy  renders  as  an  advertiser.  The  boy  is  a 
tremendous  promoter  of  his  uppermost  interest; 
and,  while  boys'  work  must  not  be  exploited  for 
cheap  and  unworthy  advertising  purposes  but 
solely  for  the  good  of  the  boy  himself,  the  fact 
remains  that  the  boy  is  an  enterprising  publicity 
bureau.  The  minister  who  gives  the  boy  his 
due  of  love,  service,  and  friendship  will  unwit- 
tingly secure  more  and  better  publicity  than 
his  more  scholastic  and  less  human  brother.  In 


The  Call  of  Boyhood  13 

the  home  and  at  school,  here,  there,  and  every- 
where, these  unrivaled  enthusiasts  sound  the 
praises  of  the  institution  and  the  man.  Others 
of  their  own  kind  are  interested,  and  reluctant 
adults  are  finally  drawn  into  the  current. 
The  man  or  church  that  is  doing  a  real  work 
for  boys  is  as  a  city  set  on  a  hill. 

The  pastor  needs  the  boys  because  his  task 
is  to  enlist  and  train  the  Christians  and  church- 
men of  the  future.  These  should  be  more 
efficient  and  devoted  than  those  of  the  present, 
and  should  reckon  among  their  dearest  memo- 
ries the  early  joyous  associations  formed  within 
the  church.  Many  thoughtful  ministers  are 
perplexed  by  the  alienation  of  wage-earners 
from  the  church;  but  what  could  not  be 
accomplished  in  the  betterment  of  this  con- 
dition if  for  one  generation  the  churches  would 
bend  their  utmost  devotion  and  wisdom  to 
maintaining  institutions  that  would  be  worth 
while  for  all  the  boys  of  the  community?  A 
boy  genuinely  interested  and  properly  treated 
is  not  going  to  turn  his  back  upon  the  institu- 
tion or  the  man  that  has  given  him  the  most 
wholesome  enjoyment  and  the  deepest  impres- 
sions of  his  life.  The  reason  why  the  church 
does  not  get  and  hold  the  boy  of  the  wage- 
earner,  or  any  other  boy,  is  because  it  stupidly 


14  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

ignores  him,  his  primary  interests,  and  his 
essential  nature;  or  goes  to  the  extreme  bother 
of  making  itself  an  insufferable  bore. 

The  reflex  influence  of  boys'  work  upon  the 
church  herself  should  not  be  ignored.  Here  is 
a  great  plant  moldering  away  in  silence.  Not 
to  mention  the  auditorium,  even  the  Sunday- 
school  quarters  and  lecture-room  are  very 
little  used,  and  this  in  communities  trained  to 
sharp  economic  insight  and  insisting  already 
that  the  public-school  buildings  be  made  to 
serve  the  people  both  day  and  night  and  in 
social  as  well  as  educational  lines. 

The  basement  is  perhaps  the  most  vulner- 
able point  in  the  armor  of  exclusive  sanctity 
that  incases  the  church.  Here,  if  anywhere, 
organized  church  work  for  boys  may  be  toler- 
ated. Whenever  it  is,  lights  begin  to  shine 
from  the  basement  windows  several  evenings  a 
week,  a  noisy  enthusiasm  echoes  through  the 
ghostly  spaces  above,  in  a  literal  and  figurative 
sense  cobwebs  are  brushed  away.  The  stir  is 
soon  felt  by  the  whole  church.  A  sense  of  use- 
fulness and  self-confidence  begins  to  possess  the 
minds  of  the  members.  Things  are  doing;  and 
the  dignity  and  desirability  of  having  some  part 
in  an  institution  where  things  are  doing  inspires 
the  members  and  attracts  non-members. 


The  Call  of  Boyhood  15 

It  will  be  a  sad  day  for  the  pastor  and  the 
church  when  they  agree  to  delegate  to  any 
other  institution  all  organized  work  for  boys 
and  especially  those  features  which  the  boys 
themselves  most  enjoy.  The  ideal  ministry  to 
boyhood  must  not  be  centralized  away  from 
the  church  nor  taken  altogether  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  pastor.  There  is  no  place  where  the 
work  can  be  done  in  a  more  personal  way,  and 
with  less  danger  of  subordinating  the  interests 
of  the  individual  boy  to  mammoth  institutional 
machinery  and  ambition,  than  in  the  church. 
The  numerous  small  groups  in  the  multitude 
of  churches  afford  unequaled  opportunity  for 
intimate  friendship,  which  was  pre-eminently 
the  method  of  Jesus,  and  for  the  full  play  of 
a  man's  influence  upon  boy  character. 

The  pastor  who  abdicates,  and  whose  church 
is  but  a  foraging  ground  for  other  institutions 
which  present  a  magnificent  exhibit  of  social 
service,  may,  indeed,  be  a  good  man,  but  he  is 
canceling  the  charter  of  the  church  of  tomorrow. 
It  is  at  best  a  close  question  as  to  how  the 
church  will  emerge  from  her  present  probation, 
and  the  pastor  should  be  wise  enough  to  reckon 
with  the  estimate  in  which  the  community 
and  the  boy  hold  him  and  the  organization  that 
he  serves.  And  if  he  wants  business  men  of 


1 6  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

the  future  who  will  respect  and  support  the 
church,  laboring  men  who  will  love  and  attend 
the  church,  professional  men  who  will  believe 
in  and  serve  an  efficient  church,  he  must  get 
the  boys  who  are  to  be  business  men,  wage- 
earners,  and  professional  men,  and  he  must 
hold  them. 

If  he  is  concerned  that  there  should  be  strong, 
capable  men  to  take  up  the  burden  of  church 
leadership  in  the  future  let  him  create  such 
leadership  in  his  own  spiritual  image  from  the 
plastic  idealism  of  boyhood.  Let  the  hero- 
worship  age,  without  a  word  of  compulsion 
or  advice,  make  its  choice  with  him  present 
as  a  sample  of  what  the  minister  can  be,  and 
tomorrow  there  will  be  no  lack  of  virile  high- 
class  men  in  pulpit  and  parish.  As  a  rule  the 
ideals  that  carry  men  into  the  ministry  are 
born,  not  in  later  youth  nor  in  maturity,  but 
in  the  period  covered  by  the  early  high-school 
years;  and  the  future  leadership  of  the  church  is 
secure  if  the  right  kind  of  ministers  mingle  with 
boys  of  that  age  on  terms  of  unaffected  friend- 
ship and  wholesome  community  of  interest. 

Then  too  there  are  the  riches  of  memory 
and  gratitude  that  bulk  so  large  in  a  true 
pastor's  reward.  If  in  the  years  to  come  the 
minister  wishes  to  warm  his  heart  in  the  glow 


The  Call  of  Boyhood  17 

of  happy  memories  and  undying  gratitude,  let 
him  invest  his  present  energy  in  the  service  of 
boys.  If  the  minister  could  but  realize  the 
vast  significance  of  such  work,  if  he  could  feel 
the  lure  of  those  untold  values  lying  like  conti- 
nents on  the  edge  of  the  future  awaiting  dis- 
covery and  development,  if  he  could  but  know 
that  he  is  swinging  incipient  forces  of  command- 
ing personality  into  their  orbits,  directing 
destiny  for  the  individual,  predetermining  for 
righteousness  great  decisions  of  the  future, 
laying  hold  of  the  very  kingdoms  of  this  world 
for  Christ,  he  surely  would  never  again  bemean 
himself  in  his  own  thought  nor  discount  his 
peerless  calling. 

To  be  sure,  there  are  certain  satisfactions 
that  a  minister  may  lose  all  too  quickly  in  these 
days.  The  spell  of  his  eloquence  may  soon 
pass;  the  undivided  love  of  all  the  people  is  no 
permanent  tenure  of  him  who  speaks  the  truth 
even  in  love;  speedy  dissatisfaction  and  un- 
bridled criticism  are,  alas,  too  often  the  prac- 
tice of  church  democracy;  but  that  man  who 
has  won  the  love  of  boys  has  thrown  about 
himself  a  bodyguard  whose  loyalty  will  out- 
match every  foe. 

In  the  hour  of  reaction  from  intense  and 
unrewarded  toil  the  empty  chambers  of  the 


1 8  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

preacher's  soul  may  echo  in  bitterness  the 
harsh  misanthropy  of  a  scheming  world.  Then 
it  is  that  he  needs  the  boys,  the  undismayed 
defenders  of  his  faith.  Let  him  name  their 
names  until  the  ague  goes  out  of  his  heart  and 
the  warm  compassion  of  the  Man  of  Galilee 
returns.  To  be  a  hero  and  an  ideal  in  the 
estimate  of  anyone  is  indeed  a  great  call  to 
the  best  that  is  in  us;  and  when  the  minister, 
in  the  dark  day  or  the  bright,  hears  the  acclaim 
of  his  bodyguard  let  him  believe  that  it  is  the 
call  of  God  to  manhood  that  has  the  triple 
strength  of  faith,  hope,  and  love. 

All  of  this  and  much  more  they  surely  can 
and  will  do  for  him,  and  if  the  pastor  who  thinks 
that  he  has  no  field  or  who  is  getting  a  bit  weary 
or  professional  in  the  routine  ministry  to  un- 
romantic  middle  life  could  but  behold  within 
his  parish,  however  small,  this  very  essence  of 
vital  reality,  this  allurement  of  unbounded 
possibility,  this  challenge  of  a  lively  paganism, 
and  this  greatest  single  opportunity  to  bring 
in  the  Kingdom  of  God,  he  would,  in  the  very 
discovery  of  the  boy  and  his  significance, 
re-create  himself  into  a  more  useful,  happy, 
and  genuine  man.  Is  it  not  better  to  find  new 
values  in  the  old  field  than  to  pursue  super- 
ficial values  in  a  succession  of  new  fields  ? 


CHAPTER  II 
AN  APPROACH  TO  BOYHOOD1 

If  the  minister  is  to  do  intelligent  work  with 
boys  he  must  have  some  knowledge  of  the  ground 
plan  of  boyhood  and  he  must  believe  that  the 
boy  both  demands  and  merits  actual  study. 
Specific  acquaintance  with  each  one  severally, 
alert  recognition  of  individuality,  variety,  and 
even  sport,  and  an  ample  allowance  for  excep- 
tions to  every  rule  will  greatly  aid  in  giving 
fitness  to  one's  endeavor;  but  beneath  all  of 
these  architectural  peculiarities  lies  the  com- 
mon biological  foundation.  To  know  the 
human  organism  genetically,  to  have  some 
knowledge  of  the  processes  by  which  it  reaches 
its  normal  organization,  to  appreciate  the  crude 
and  elemental  struggle  that  has  left  its  history 
in  man's  bodily  structure,  to  think  in  large 
biological  terms  that  include,  besides  "the 
physics  and  chemistry  of  living  matter," 
considerations  ethnological,  hereditary,  and 

1  General  reading:  W.  I.  Thomas,  Source  Book  for  Social 
Origins,  The  University  of  Chicago  Press;  G.  Stanley  Hall, 
Adolescence,  D.  Appleton  &  Co.;  C.  H.  Judd,  Genetic  Psychology 
for  Teachers,  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 

19 


20  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

psychological,  is  to  make  fundamental  prepara- 
tion for  the  understanding  of  boyhood. 

For  the  family  to  which  the  boy  belongs  is 
the  human  family.  His  parents  alone  and  their 
characteristics  do  not  explain  him,  nor  does 
contemporary  environment,  important  as  that 
is.  His  ancestry  is  the  human  race,  his  history 
is  their  history,  his  impulses  and  his  bodily 
equipment  from  which  they  spring  are  the 
result  of  eons  of  strife,  survival,  and  habit. 
Four  generations  back  he  has  not  two  but 
sixteen  parents.  Thus  he  comes  to  us  out  of 
the  great  physical  democracy  of  mankind  and 
doubtless  with  a  tendency  to  re-live  its  ancient 
and  deep-seated  experiences. 

This  theory  of  race  recapitulation  as  applied 
to  the  succeeding  stages  of  boyhood  may  be 
somewhat  more  poetic  than  scientific.  Geneti- 
cally he  does  those  things  for  which  at  the 
time  he  has  the  requisite  muscular  and  nervous 
equipment,  but  the  growth  of  this  equipment 
gives  him  a  series  of  interests  and  expressions 
that  run  in  striking  parallel  to  primitive  life. 
If  the  enveloping  society  is  highly  civilized 
and  artificial,  much  of  his  primitive  desire  may 
be  cruelly  smothered  or  too  hastily  refined  or 
forced  into  a  criminal  course.  But  memory, 
experience,  observation,  and  experiment  force 


An  Approach  to  Boyhood  21 

one  to  note  that  the  parallel  does  exist  and  that 
it  is  vigorously  and  copiously  attested  by  the 
boy's  likes  and  deeds.  At  the  same  time  the 
theory  is  to  be  used  suggestively  rather  than 
dogmatically,  and  the  leader  of  boys  will  not 
imagine  that  to  reproduce  the  primitive  life 
is  the  goal  of  his  endeavor.  It  is  by  the  recog- 
nition of  primitive  traits  and  by  connecting 
with  them  as  they  emerge  that  the  guide  of 
boyhood  may  secure  an  intelligent  and  well- 
supported  advance. 

Such  an  approach  favors  a  sympathetic 
understanding  of  the  boy.  To  behold  in 
him  a  rough  summary  of  the  past,  and  to  be 
able  to  capitalize  for  good  the  successive 
instincts  as  they  appear,  is  to  accomplish  a 
fine  piece  of  missionary  work  without  leaving 
home.  Africa  and  Borneo  and  Alaska  come 
to  you.  The  fire-worshiper  of  ancient  times, 
the  fierce  tribesman,  the  savage  hunter  and 
fisher,  the  religion-making  nomad,  the  daring 
pirate,  the  bedecked  barbarian,  the  elemental 
fighter  with  nature  and  fellow  and  rival  of 
every  kind,  the  master  of  the  world  in  mak- 
ing— comes  before  you  in  dramatic  and  often 
pathetic  array  in  the  unfolding  life  of  the 
ordinary  boy. 

Our  topmost  civilization,  although  sustained 


22  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

and  repleted  by  this  original  stuff,  takes  all 
too  little  account  of  these  elemental  traits. 
In  the  growing  boy  the  ascending  races  are 
piled  one  on  top  of  another.  In  him  you  get 
a  longitudinal  section  of  human  nature  since 
its  beginning.  He  is  an  abridged  volume  on 
ethnology;  and  because  he  is  on  the  way  up 
and  elected  to  rule,  it  is  more  of  a  mistake  to 
neglect  him  than  it  is  to  neglect  any  of  those 
races  that  have  suffered  a  long-continued 
arrest  at  some  point  along  the  way.  Of  course 
anyone  expecting  to  note  by  day  and  hour  the 
initial  emergence  of  this  or  that  particular  trait 
of  primitive  man  will  be  disappointed.  The 
thing  for  the  friend  of  the  boy  to  know  is  that 
in  him  the  deep-set  habits  which  made  the 
human  body  the  instrument  it  is,  the  old 
propensities  of  savage  life  are  voices  of  the  past, 
muffled,  perhaps,  but  very  deep  and  insistent, 
calling  him  to  do  the  things  which  for  ages 
were  done  and  to  make  full  trial  of  the  physique 
which  modern  civilization  threatens  with  disuse 
or  perversion. 

Let  a  number  of  the  common  traits  of  boy- 
hood testify.  There  is  the  gang  instinct  which 
is  noticeably  dominant  during  the  years  from 
twelve  to  fifteen.  Probably  80  per  cent  of  all 
boys  of  this  age  belong  to  some  group  answer- 


MIGHTY  HUNTERS 


THE  LURE  OF   THE   WATER 


An  Approach  to  Boyhood  23 

ing  dimly  to  ancient  tribal  association  and 
forming  the  first  social  circle  outside  the  home. 
A  canvass  of  the  conditions  of  boy  life  in  the 
Hyde  Park  district  of  Chicago  revealed  the 
existence  of  such  gangs  on  an  average  of  one 
to  every  two  blocks,  and  the  situation  is  not 
materially  different  in  other  parts  of  the  city 
or  in  the  smaller  towns.  The  gang  is  thus  the 
initial  civic  experiment  for  better  or  for  worse, 
the  outreach  after  government,  co-operative 
power,  and  the  larger  self  which  can  be  found 
only  in  association.  During  this  age  and  within 
his  group  the  boy  does  not  act  as  one  possessing 
clear  and  independent  moral  responsibility. 
He  acts  as  part  of  the  gang,  subject  to  its  ideals, 
and  practically  helpless  against  its  codes  of 
conduct  and  its  standards  of  loyalty. 

One  hot  afternoon  I  ran  across  a  group  "in 
swimming"  at  a  forbidden  spot  on  the  shore  of 
Lake  Michigan.  As  we  talked  and  tended  the 
fire,  which  their  sun-blistered  bodies  did  not 
need,  one  of  the  lads  suddenly  fired  at  me 
point-blank  the  all-important  question,  "What 
do  you  belong  to?"  Being  unable  to  give  an 
answer  immediately  favorable  to  our  growing 
friendship,  I  countered  with  "What  do  you 
belong  to?"  "Oh,"  said  he,  "I  belong  to  de 
gang."  "What  gang?"  "De  gang  on  de 


24  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

corner  of  Fitty  Fit  and  Cottage  Grove."  "  And 
what  do  you  do?"  "Ah,  in  de  ev'nin'  we  go 
out  and  ketch  guys  and  tie  'em  up."  Allowing 
for  nickel-show  and  Wild-West  suggestions, 
there  remains  a  touch  of  a  somewhat  primitive 
exploit. 

Another  interesting  gang  was  found  occupy- 
ing a  cave  in  the  saloon  district  of  Lake  Avenue. 
The  cave  takes  precedence  over  the  shack  as  a 
rendezvous  because  it  demands  no  building 
material  and  affords  more  secrecy.  Beneath 
the  cave  was  a  carefully  concealed  seven-foot 
sub-cellar  which  they  had  also  excavated. 
This  served  as  a  guardhouse  for  unruly  members 
and  as  a  hiding-place  for  loot.  When  in  con- 
clave, each  boy  occupied  his  space  on  a  bench 
built  against  the  sides  of  the  cave,  his  place 
being  indicated  by  his  particular  number 
on  the  mud  wall.  This  gang  had  forty-eight 
members  and  was  led  by  a  dissolute  fellow 
somewhat  older  than  the  others,  one  of  those 
dangerous  boys  beyond  the  age  of  compulsory 
education  and  unfitted  for  regular  work. 
They  played  cards,  "rushed  the  can,"  and  all 
hands  smoked  cigarettes.  Facilis  descensus 
Averno.  The  love  of  adventure  and  hunting 
was  illustrated  in  the  case  of  two  other  boys  of 
this  neighborhood  who  were  but  ten  and  eleven 


An  Approach  to  Boyhood  25 

years  of  age.  Having  stolen  eleven  dollars 
and  a  useless  revolver,  they  ran  away  to  Mil- 
waukee. When  taken  in  hand  by  the  police  of 
that  city  they  solemnly  declared  that  they 
had  "come  to  Wisconsin  to  shoot  Injuns. " 

Much  could  be  said  of  the  love  of  fire  which 
has  not  yet  surrendered  all  of  its  charm  for 
even  the  most  unromantic  adult.  The  mystic 
thrill  that  went  through  the  unspoiled  nerves 
of  pre-historic  man  and  filled  his  mind  with 
awe  is  with  us  still.  The  boy  above  all  others 
yields  to  its  spell.  Further,  by  means  of  a  fire 
he  becomes,  almost  without  effort,  a  wonder- 
working cause,  a  manipulator  of  nature,  a 
miracle  worker.  Hence  the  vacant  lots  are 
often  lighted  up;  barrels,  boxes,  and  fences 
disappear;  and  one  almost  believes  that  part 
of  the  charm  of  smoking  is  in  the  very  making 
of  the  smoke  and  seeing  it  unwind  into  greater 
mystery  as  did  incense  from  thousands  of 
altars  in  the  long-ago. 

This  elemental  desire  to  be  a  cause  and  to 
advertise  by  visible,  audible,  and  often  pain- 
ful proofs  the  fact  of  one's  presence  in  the 
world  is  also  basal.  It  is  the  compliment 
which  noisy  childhood  and  industrious  boy- 
hood insistently  demand  from  the  world  about. 
Even  the  infant  revels  in  this  testimony, 


26  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

preferring  crude  and  noisy  playthings  of  pro- 
portion to  the  innocent  nerve-sparing  de- 
vices which  the  adult  tries  to  foist  upon  him. 
The  coal  scuttle  is  made  to  proclaim  causal 
relation  between  the  self  in  effort  and  the  not- 
self  in  response  more  satisfactorily  than  the 
rag  doll;  and  the  manifest  glee  over  the  con- 
tortions of  the  playful  father  whose  hand  is 
slapped  is  not  innate  cruelty  but  the  delight  of 
successful  experiment  in  causation. 

So  of  the  noise  and  bluster,  the  building  and 
destruction,  the  teasing  and  torture  so  often 
perpetrated  by  the  boy.  He  is  saying  that  he 
is  here  and  must  be  reckoned  with,  and  he 
wishes  to  make  his  presence  as  significant  as 
possible.  If  home,  school,  and  community 
conditions  are  such  as  to  give  healthful  direc- 
tion to  both  his  constructive  and  destructive 
experimentation,  all  is  well,  but  if  society 
cannot  so  provide  he  will  still  exploit  his  causal 
relation  although  it  must  be  in  violation  of  law 
and  order.  The  result  is  delinquency,  but 
even  in  this  he  glories.  It  often  gives  a  more 
pungent  and  romantic  testimony  than  could 
otherwise  be  secured.  It  is  the  flaring  yellow 
advertisement  of  misdirected  effectiveness. 
Probably  there  mingles  with  this  impulse  the 
love  of  adventure  as  developed  in  the  chase. 


An  Approach  to  Boyhood  27 

"Flipping  cars,"  tantalizing  policemen,  pilfer- 
ing from  fruit  stands  are  frequently  the  degen- 
erate, urban  forms  of  the  old  quest  of,  and 
encounter  with,  the  game  of  forest  and  jungle. 

Then  there  is  the  lure  of  the  water,  which 
explains  more  than  half  his  school  truancy 
during  the  open  season.  It  is  a  fine  spring  or 
summer  day.  The  Wanderlust  of  his  ancestry 
is  upon  the  boy.  The  periodic  migration  for 
game  or  with  the  herds,  the  free  range  of  wood 
and  stream,  or  the  excitement  of  the  chase  pul- 
sates in  his  blood.  Voices  of  the  far  past  call  to 
something  native  in  him.  The  shimmer  of  the 
water  just  as  they  of  old  saw  it,  the  joyous 
chance  of  taking  game  from  its  unseen  depths, 
or  of  getting  the  full  flush  of  bodily  sensation  by 
plunging  into  it,  the  unbridled  pursuit  of  one's 
own  sweet  will  under  the  free  air  of  heaven — 
these  are  the  attractions  over  against  which 
we  place  the  school  with  its  books,  its  restraint, 
and  its  feminine  control;  and  the  church  with 
its  hush  and  its  Sunday-school  lesson:  and,  too 
often,  we  offer  nothing  else.  It  is  like  giving 
a  hungry  woodchopper  a  doily,  a  Nabisco 
wafer,  and  a  finger-bowl. 

If  we  could  but  appreciate  the  great  crude 
past  whose  conflicts  still  persist  in  the  boy's 
gruesome  and  tragic  dreams,  filling  him  with 


28  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

a  fear  of  the  dark,  which  fear  in  time  past  was 
the  wholesome  and  necessary  monitor  of  self- 
preservation;  if  we  could  only  realize  how 
strenuous  must  be  those  experiences  which 
guarantee  a  strong  body,  a  firm  will,  and  an 
appetite  for  objective  facts,  we  would  not  make 
our  education  so  insipidly  nice,  so  intellectual, 
so  bookish,  and  so  much  under  the  roof.  A 
school  and  a  school  building  are  not  synony- 
mous, a  church  and  a  church  building  are  not 
synonymous;  schooling  is  not  identical  with 
education,  nor  church  attendance  with  religion. 
It  is  unfortunate  if  the  boy  beholds  in  these 
two  essential  institutions  merely  an  emasculated 
police. 

If  either  the  church  or  the  school  is  to  reach 
the  boy  it  will  have  to  recognize  and  perform 
its  task  very  largely  beyond  the  traditional 
limits  of  the  institution  as  such,  and  with  a 
heartiness  and  masculinity  which  are  now  often 
absent.  In  this  field  the  indirect  and  extra- 
ecclesiastical  work  of  the  minister  will  be  his 
best  work,  and  the  time  that  the  teacher  spends 
with  his  pupils  outside  the  schoolhouse  may 
have  more  educational  value  than  that  spent 
within.  In  due  tune  society  will  be  ready  to 
appreciate  and  support  the  educator  who  is 
bigger  than  any  building;  and  outdoor  schools 
are  bound  to  grow  in  favor. 


GETTING  THE   SPARK 


GETTING  THE   FLAME 


FIRE! 


An  Approach  to  Boyhood  29 

Consider  also  the  boy's  love  of  paraphernalia 
and  all  the  tokens  of  achievement  or  of  oneness 
with  his  group.  The  pre-adolescent  boy  glory- 
ing in  full  Indian  regalia,  the  early-adolescent 
proud  in  the  suit  of  his  team  or  in  his  accouter- 
ments  as  a  Scout,  and  a  little  later,  with  quieter 
taste,  the  persistent  fraternity  pin — all  of  these 
tell  the  same  story  of  the  love  of  insignia  and 
the  power  of  the  emblem  in  the  social  control 
and  development  of  youth.  Think  also  of  the 
collecting  mania,  which  among  primitives  was 
less  strong  than  is  ordinarily  supposed,  but 
which  in  early  boyhood  reaches  forth  its  hands 
industriously,  if  not  always  wisely,  after  con- 
crete, tactual  knowledge  and  proprietorship. 
So  also  with  the  impulse  to  tussle  and  to  revel 
in  the  excitement  of  a  contest;  inhibited,  it  ex- 
plodes; neglected,  it  degenerates;  but  directed, 
it  goes  far  toward  the  making  of  a  man.  Evi- 
dence of  this  intensity,  zest,  and  pressure 
of  young  life  is  never  wanting.  Disorder, 
"rough-house,"  and  even  serious  accidents 
testify  to  the  reckless  abandon  which  tries  to 
compensate  in  brief  space  for  a  thousand  hours 
of  repression.  Such  occurrences  are  unfortunate 
but  worse  things  may  happen  if  the  discharge 
of  energy  becomes  anti-social,  immoral,  and 
vicious.  "The  evils  of  lust  and  drink  are  the 
evils  that  devour  playless  and  inhibited  youth." 


30  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

Right  conceptions  of  religion  and  education 
must  therefore  attach  an  added  sanctity  to  the 
growth  of  the  body,  since  in  and  through  it 
alone  is  the  soul,  so  far  as  we  know  it,  achieved. 
To  accept  the  biological  order  as  of  God  and  to 
turn  to  their  right  use  all  of  life's  unfolding 
powers  constitutes  a  religious  program.  For 
even  those  primitive  instincts  which  pass  and 
perish  often  stir  into  consciousness  and  opera- 
tion other  more  noble  functions  or  are  trans- 
muted into  recognized  virtues.  Popularly 
speaking,  the  tadpole's  tail  becomes  his  legs. 
Success  in  suppressing  the  precivilized  qualities 
of  the  boy  results  in  a  "zestless  automaton" 
that  is  something  less  than  a  man.  Everything 
that  characterizes  the  boy,  however  bothersome 
and  unpromising  it  may  seem,  is  to  be  con- 
sidered with  reference  to  a  developing  organism 
which  holds  the  story  of  the  past  and  the  proph- 
ecy of  the  future.  To  the  apostle  of  the  largest 
vision  and  the  greatest  hope,  these  native 
propensities  will  be  the  call  of  the  man  of  Mace- 
donia, saying,  "Come  over  and  help  us." 

The  most  striking  biological  change  that 
comes  to  the  boy  on  his  way  to  manhood  is 
that  of  puberty.  The  church  and  the  state 
have  attested  the  vast  importance  of  this 
experience  for  political  and  religious  ends  by 


An  Approach  to  Boyhood  31 

their  ceremonials  of  induction  into  the  responsi- 
bilities of  citizenship  and  the  obligations  of 
formal  religion.  Among  the  least  civilized 
peoples  these  ceremonies  were  often  cruel, 
superstitious,  and  long  drawn  out  in  their 
exaction  of  self-control,  sacrifice,  and  subordina- 
tion to  the  tribal  will.  The  sagacity  of  the 
elders  of  the  tribe  in  preserving  their  own 
control  and  in  perpetuating  totemic  lore  must 
compel  the  unfeigned  admiration  of  the  modern 
ethnologist. 

The  Athenians  with  their  magnificent  civili- 
zation exalted  citizenship  and  the  service  of 
the  state  far  beyond  any  modern  attainment. 
The  way  of  the  youth  today  is  tame,  empty,  and 
selfish  as  compared  with  the  Spartan  road  to 
manhood  and  the  Roman  ceremonies  attend- 
ant upon  the  assumption  of  the  toga  virilis. 
As  a  rule  modern  churches  have  too  lightly 
regarded  the  profound  significance  of  ancient 
confirmation  services — Jewish,  Greek,  and 
Catholic.  Knowledge  of  what  transpires  in 
the  body  and  mind  of  adolescence  proves  the 
wisdom  of  the  ancients  and  at  the  same  time 
attracts  both  the  educator  and  the  evangelist 
to  study  and  use  the  crises  of  this  fertile  and 
plastic  period. 

The  process  of  transformation  from  child- 


32  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

hood  into  manhood  begins  in  the  twelfth 
or  thirteenth  year,  passes  its  most  acute  stage 
at  about  fifteen,  and  may  not  complete  itself 
until  the  twenty-fifth  year.  It  is  preceded 
by  a  period  of  mobilization  of  vitality  as  if 
nature  were  preparing  for  this  wonderful 
re-birth  whereby  the  individualistic  boy  be- 
comes the  socialized  progenitor  of  his  kind. 

The  normal  physiological  changes,  quite 
apart  from  their  psychological  accompaniments, 
are  such  as  to  elicit  the  sympathy  of  intelligent 
adults.  Early  in  pubescent  growth  the  heart 
increases  by  leaps  and  bounds,  often  doubling 
its  size  in  the  course  of  two  years  or  even  one 
year.  There  is  a  rise  of  about  one  degree  in 
the  temperature  of  the  blood  and  the  blood 
pressure  is  increased  in  all  parts  of  the  body. 
The  entire  body  is  unduly  sensitized,  and  the 
boy  is  besieged  by  an  army  of  new  and  vivid 
sense  impressions  that  overstimulate,  confuse, 
and  baffle  him.  He  is  under  stress  and  like 
all  persons  under  tension  he  reacts  extremely 
and  hence  inconsistently  in  different  directions. 
He  cannot  correlate  and  organize  his  experiences. 
They  are  too  vivid,  varied,  and  rapid  for  that. 
This  over-intensity  begets  in  turn  excessive 
languor  and  he  cannot  hold  himself  in  via  media. 

His  physical  condition  explains  his  marked 


An  Approach  to  Boyhood  33 

moods:  his  sudden  changes  of  front,  his  ascent 
of  rare  heights  of  impulsive  idealism,  and  his 
equally  sudden  descent  into  the  bogs  of 
materialism;  his  unsurpassed  though  tempo- 
rary altruism  and  his  intermittent  abandon  to 
gross  selfishness.  He  has  range.  He  is  a  little 
more  than  himself  in  every  direction.  The 
wine  of  life  is  in  his  blood  and  brain.  It  is  no 
wonder  that  somewhere  about  the  middle  of 
the  adolescent  period  both  conversions  and 
misdemeanors  are  at  their  maximum. 

To  make  matters  worse  these  vivid  and 
unorganized  experiences,  simply  because  they 
lie  along  the  shore  of  the  infinite  and  have  no 
single  clue,  no  governing  philosophy  of  life, 
are  overswept  by  the  dense  and  chilling  fogs 
of  unreality  that  roll  in  from  the  great  deep. 
Life  is  swallowed  up  in  awful  mystery.  Ex- 
ternal facts  are  less  real  than  dreams.  One 
stamps  the  very  ground  beneath  his  feet  to 
know  if  it  exists.  The  ego  which  must  gauge 
itself  by  external  bearings  is  temporarily  adrift 
and  lost.  Suicidal  thoughts  are  easily  evoked; 
and  at  such  times  the  luxury  of  being  odd  and 
hopelessly  misunderstood  constitutes  a  chame- 
leon-like morbidity  that,  with  a  slight  change 
of  light  and  color,  becomes  an  obsession  of 
conceit.  The  odd  one,  the  mystery  to  self  and 


34  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

others,  is  he  not  the  great  one  that  shall  occupy 
the  center  of  the  stage  in  some  stupendous 
drama  ?  A  man  now  prominent  in  educational 
circles  testifies  how  that  on  a  drizzly  night  on 
the  streets  of  old  London  the  lad,  then  but  six- 
teen years  of  age,  came  to  a  full  stop,  set  his 
foot  down  with  dramatic  pose,  and  exclaimed 
with  soul- wracking  seriousness: 

The  time  is  out  of  joint; — O  cursed  spite, 
That  ever  I  was  born  to  set  it  right! 

So  is  it  ever  with  the  adolescent  soul  unless 
society  curses  the  desire  for  significance  and 
makes  it  criminal. 

These  bare  cliffs  of  primal  personality  have 
not  yet  undergone  the  abrasion  of  the  glacial 
drift  nor  of  the  frost  and  the  heat,  the  wind 
and  the  rain  of  long  years.  They  are  angular, 
bold,  defiant,  and  unsuited  to  the  pastoral 
and  agricultural  scenes  of  middle  life.  The 
grind  of  life  with  its  slow  accomplishment 
and  failure  has  not  as  yet  imparted  caution 
and  discretion.  Shrewd  calculation  and  nig- 
gardliness too  are  normally  absent.  Generous 
estimates  prevail.  Idealism  is  passionate  and 
turns  its  eye  to  summits  that  a  life-time  of 
devotion  cannot  scale.  Honor  is  held  in  high 
regard  and  select  friendships  may  have  the 
intensity  of  religion.  Judgments  are  without 


An  Approach  to  Boyhood  35 

qualification.  Valor,  laughter  and  fun,  excess 
and  the  love  of  victory  mingle  in  hot  profusion. 
Except  in  the  case  of  the  precocious  boy  of  the 
street,  the  cold  vices  of  cynicism,  misanthropy, 
and  avarice — the  reptilians  of  society — are 
found  almost  exclusively  among  adults.  The 
younger  brother  is  the  prodigal.  Experience 
has  not  taught  him  how  to  value  property  and 
the  main  chance. 

The  failure  of  self-knowledge  and  self-control 
to  keep  pace  with  the  rapid  changes  of  bodily 
structure,  sense-impressions,  and  mental  organi- 
zation is  nowhere  more  marked  and  significant 
than  in  sex  development;  and  the  common 
experience  of  adolescent  boys  is  to  the  effect 
that  no  other  temptations  equal  in  persistence 
and  intensity  those  that  attend  and  follow  this 
awakening.  It  is  highly  important,  then, 
that,  as  preparation  for  dealing  with  the  indi- 
vidual, the  minister  shall  both  see  the  generic 
boy  upon  the  background  of  the  past  and  that 
he  shall  also  understand  in  some  measure  the 
physical  basis  and  psychological  ferment  of  the 
boy's  inevitable  re-birth,  not  for  the  purpose 
of  cheaply  exploiting  adolescence  but  in  order 
that  he  may  bring  every  life  to  its  best  in  terms 
of  personal  character  and  of  worth  to  the 
world. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  BOY  IN  VILLAGE  AND   COUNTRY1 

From  the  consideration  of  bodily  health  the 
village  boy  is  better  off  than  his  city  cousin. 
He  also  enjoys  to  a  far  greater  degree  the  pro- 
tective and  educative  attention  of  real  neigh- 
borhood Me.  The  opinions  and  customs  which 
help  to  mold  him  are  more  personal.  He  prob- 
ably holds  himself  more  accountable,  for  he 
can  more  readily  trace  the  results  of  any  course 
of  action  in  terms  of  the  welfare  and  good-will 
of  well-known  persons.  His  relation  to  nature 
is  also  more  nearly  ideal.  Artificial  restrictions, 
territorial  and  otherwise,  are  not  so  strictly 
imposed.  His  lot  favors  a  sane  and  normal 
view  of  life.  There  are  more  chores  to  be  done, 
more  inviting  occupations  in  the  open,  and 
altogether  there  may  be  a  more  wholesome 
participation  in  the  work  of  maintaining  the 
home  than  is  possible  for  the  city  boy. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  static  character  of 

1  Books  recommended:  Official  Handbook,  Boy  Scouts  of 
America,  200  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York;  K.  L.  Butterfield,  Chapters 
in  Rural  Progress,  The  University  of  Chicago  Press;  K.  L.  Butter- 
field,  The  Country  Church  and  the  Rural  Problem,  The  University 
of  Chicago  Press. 

36 


The  Boy  in  Village  and  Country        37 

village  life  leaves  the  boy  with  little  inspira- 
tion in  his  primary  interests  of  play  and  his 
serious  ideals  of  the  noblest  manhood.  Idle 
hours  work  demoralization  and  the  ever- 
present  example  of  the  village  loafer  is  not  good. 
A  disproportionate  number  of  village  people 
lack  public  spirit  and  social  ideals.  The 
masculine  element  most  in  evidence  is  not  of 
the  strongest  and  most  inspiring  kind,  and  the 
village  is  all  too  often  the  paradise  of  the  loafer 
and  the  male  gossip.  This,  however,  cannot 
be  said  of  the  small  frontier  town  where  the 
spirit  of  progress  is  grappling  with  crude 
conditions. 

Furthermore,  the  village  is  sadly  incompetent 
in  the  organization  of  its  welfare  and  commun- 
ity work.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  social  supervi- 
sion is  often  so  lax  that  obscene  moving  pictures 
and  cards  that  are  driven  out  of  the  large  cities 
are  exhibited  without  protest  in  the  small 
towns.  Usually  the  village  is  over  churched, 
and  consequently  divided  into  pitiably  weak 
factions  whose  controlling  aim  is  self-preserva- 
tion. Seldom  can  a  religious,  philanthropic, 
or  social  organization  be  developed  with  suffi- 
cient strength  to  serve  the  community  as  such. 

The  sectarian  divisions  which  in  the  vast 
needs  and  resources  of  great  cities  do  not  so 


38  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

acutely  menace  church  efficiency  prove  serious 
in  the  small  town.  The  saloon,  poolroom, 
livery  stable,  and  other  haunts  of  the  idle 
are  open  for  boys;  but  the  Christian  people, 
because  of  their  denominational  differences, 
maintain  no  social  headquarters  and  no  insti- 
tution in  which  boys  may  find  healthy  expres- 
sion for  their  normal  interests.  The  Y.M.C.A. 
is  impracticable,  because  the  church  people 
are  already  overtaxed  in  keeping  up  their 
denominational  competition  and  so  cannot  con- 
tribute enough  to  run  an  association  properly. 
Wherever  an  association  cannot  be  conducted 
by  trained  and  paid  officers  it  will  result  in 
disappointment. 

The  caricature  of  essential  Christianity  which 
is  afforded  by  the  denominational  exhibit  in 
the  village  works  great  harm  to  boys.  It  is 
not  only  that  they  are  deprived  of  that  guidance 
which  true  Christianity  would  give  them,  but 
they  are  confronted  from  the  first  with  a 
spectacle  of  pettiness,  jealousy,  and  incom- 
petency  which  they  will  probably  forever 
associate  with  Christianity,  at  least  in  its 
ecclesiastical  forms.  Villages  are  at  best  suffi- 
ciently susceptible  to  those  unfortunate  human 
traits  that  make  for  clique  and  cleavage  in 
society,  and  when  the  Christian  church,  instead 


The  Boy  in  Village  and  Country        39 

of  unifying  and  exalting  the  community  life, 
adds  several  other  divisive  interests  with  all 
the  authority  of  religion,  the  hope  of  intelligent, 
united,  and  effective  service  for  the  community, 
on  a  scale  that  would  arouse  the  imagination 
and  enlist  the  good-will  of  all  right-minded 
people,  is  made  sadly  remote. 

So  far  as  church  work  is  concerned,  the  village 
boy  is  likely  to  be  overlooked,  as  promising 
little  toward  the  immediate  financial  support 
of  the  church  and  the  increase  of  membership. 
In  the  brief  interval  of  two  years — the  average 
duration  of  the  village  pastorate — it  does  not 
seem  practicable  for  the  minister  to  go  about 
a  work  which  will  require  a  much  longer  time 
to  produce  those  "satisfactory  results"  for 
which  churches  and  missionary  boards  clamor. 
A  revival  effort  which  inflates  the  membership- 
roll,  strenuous  and  ingenious  endeavors  to  in- 
crease the  offerings,  are  the  barren  makeshifts 
of  a  policy  which  does  not  see  the  distinct 
advantage  and  security  in  building  Christian 
manhood  from  the  foundation  up. 

It  must  not  be  thought  that  the  minister  is 
largely  to  blame  for  the  situation  as  it  now  is. 
Perpetuating  institutions  beyond  the  time  of 
their  usefulness  is  one  of  society's  worst  habits, 
and  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  religious  organi- 


40  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

zations,  which  in  a  given  stage  of  the  develop- 
ment of  Christian  truths  were  vital  and  neces- 
sary,  can   easily  be  persuaded   to  surrender 
their  identity,  even  after  the  cause  that  called 
them  into  being  has  been  won. 
Men  are  we,  and  must  grieve  when  even  the  shade 
Of  that  which  once  was  great  has  passed  away. 

But  the  real  religious  leader  who  loves  boys 
will  not  be  balked  by  the  pettiness  and  inability 
of  denominationalism.  His  hope  lies  not  solely 
hi  the  church  or  the  churches,  but  largely  in  the 
intelligence,  sympathy,  and  generosity  of  the 
unchurched  citizens,  whose  number  and  impor- 
tance in  th£  small  town  is  probably  in  the  inverse 
ratio  of  the  number  of  churches.  Business  men 
of  whatever  creed,  or  of  none,  are  remarkably 
responsive  to  any  sane  endeavor  to  create  a 
wholesome  outlet  for  juvenile  activity,  and, 
whether  right  or  wrong,  count  such  efforts  as 
being  more  valuable  than  much  of  the  tradi- 
tional church  endeavor. 

The  minister  will  first  try  to  organize  boys' 
work  for  the  whole  community,  but  if  co-opera- 
tion on  the  part  of  all  or  of  a  group  of  the 
churches  proves  impossible,  let  him  go  ahead 
with  such  assistance  as  his  own  church  and 
other  voluntary  supporters  will  afford,  and 
let  him  still  work  in  entire  freedom  from  sec- 


The  Boy  in  Village  and  Country        41 

tarian  aim.  As  a  minister  of  Christ  and  his 
kingdom  he  must  give  to  Christianity  an 
interpretation  which  will  offset  provincial  and 
narrow  impressions.  He  must  free  it  from 
cant  and  from  the  other-worldly  emphasis  and 
bring  it  into  the  realm  where  boys  and  business 
men  will  respect  it  as  a  social  factor  of  primary 
importance. 

All  the  problems  of  early  adolescence  belong 
to  the  village  boy  as  to  every  other.  He  also 
gropes  about  for  his  vocational  discovery. 
How  shall  he  gain  self-control,  how  can  he 
find  himself  ?  How  can  he  relate  his  life  to  the 
great  perplexing  world  and  to  the  God  of  all  ? 
How  can  he  win  his  immediate  battles  with 
temptation?  The  public  school  throws  little 
light  upon  his  possible  occupation,  trade,  or  pro- 
fession, nor  does  it  deal  with  his  moral  struggle. 

The  Sunday  school,  if  it  touches  him  at  all, 
is  often  regarded  as  a  nuisance  to  be  endured 
out  of  respect  for  others.  It  addresses  itself 
too  much  to  tradition  and  too  little  to  modern 
life.  It  gets  the  Israelites  from  Egypt  into 
possession  of  Canaan  by  various  miraculous 
interventions,  stops  the  sea  and  the  sun,  knocks 
down  the  walls  of  Jericho  by  the  most  un- 
common tactics,  and  reveals  the  umpire  as  on 
the  Israelites'  side. 


42  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

The  boy  knows  that  if  this  be  intended  as 
sober  history  things  have  changed  somewhat. 
For  these  are  the  very  things  that  do  not  and 
should  not  happen  in  the  conquest  of  his 
promised  land.  Under  Christian  guidance  he 
must  learn  the  ethical  value  of  an  orderly  world, 
the  morality -that  inheres  in  cause  and  effect, 
the  divine  help  which  is  not  partiality;  and  if 
it  should  turn  out  that  he  could  master  these 
lessons  better  through  work  and  play  and 
friendship  than  through  being  formally  in- 
structed in  misapprehended  lore,  then  such 
work  and  play  and  fellowship  will  prove  of 
greater  value  than  the  Sunday-school  hour 
alone. 

As  for  the  country  boy,  perhaps  his  chief 
lack  is  association  with  his  fellows.  To  meet 
this  and  to  satisfy  the  gregarious  instinct, 
which  will  be  found  in  him  as  in  all  boys,  the 
minister's  organizing  ability  must  be  directed. 
The  gymnasium,  in  so  far  as  it  is  a  makeshift 
for  lack  of  proper  exercise  in  the  life  of  the  city 
boy,  is  not  in  great  demand  in  the  country. 
The  farm  boy  has  in  his  work  plenty  of  exercise 
of  a  general  and  sufficiently  exhausting  char- 
acter, and  he  has  the  benefit  of  taking  it  out  of 
doors.  He,  of  course,  is  not  a  gymnast  in 
fineness  and  grace  of  development,  and  he  may 


The  Boy  in  Village  and  Country        43 

need  corrective  exercises,  but  the  big  muscles 
whose  development  tells  for  health  and  against 
nervousness  are  always  well  used. 

In  so  far,  however,  as  the  gymnasium  affords 
a  phce  for  organized  indoor  play  through  the 
winder  months  there  is  more  to  be  said  of  its 
necessity.  For  it  is  not  exercise  but  group 
play  that  the  country  boy  most  needs.  The 
fun  and  excitement,  the  contest  and  the  co- 
ordination of  his  ability  with  that  of  others,  all 
serve  to  reduce  his  awkwardness  and  to  sup- 
plant a  rather  painful  self-consciousness  with  a 
more  just  idea  of  his  relative  rating  among  his 
fellows.  He  finds  himself,  learns  what  it  is  to 
pull  together,  and  gets  some  idea  of  the  prob- 
lems of  getting  along  well  with  colleagues  and 
opponents. 

Wherever  the  country  pastor  can  secure 
a  room  that  will  do  for  basketball,  indoor  base- 
ball, and  the  like,  he  may,  if  it  is  sufficiently 
central  and  accessible,  perform  a  useful  service 
for  the  boys  and  establish  a  point  of  contact. 
It  is  highly  desirable  that  shower-baths  and 
conveniences  for  a  complete  change  of  clothing 
be  provided.  If  Saturday  afternoon  is  a  slack 
time  and  the  farmers  are  likely  to  come  to  the 
village,  he  should  make  arrangements  to  care 
for  the  boys  then,  reserving  Saturday  evening 


44  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

for  the  young  men.  Such  an  arrangement 
secures  economy  in  heating  the  building  and 
may  overcome  for  some  of  the  youth  the  Satur- 
day evening  attractions  of  the  saloon  and  public 
dance. 

For  the  distinctly  country  church,  situated 
at  the  cross-roads,  a  building  that  may  serve 
as  a  gymnasium  will  be  practically  impossible 
unless  a  very  remarkable  enthusiasm  is  awak- 
ened among  the  boys  and  young  men.  But 
in  many  a  country  village  such  an  equip- 
ment is  both  necessary  and  well  within  the  reach 
of  a  good  organizer.  The  country  people  have 
means  and  know  how  to  work  for  what  they 
really  desire.  What  they  most  lack  is  inspira- 
tion and  leadership. 

During  that  part  of  the  open  season  when 
school  is  in  session  the  country  minister  has  an 
excellent  opportunity  to  meet  the  boys,  organ- 
ize their  play,  and  become  a  real  factor  in  their 
lives.  In  the  country  one-room  school  there 
will  be  found  but  few  boys  over  fourteen  years 
of  age,  but  a  great  deal  can  be  done  with  the 
younger  boys  in  some  such  way  as  follows: 
As  school  "lets  out"  in  the  afternoon  the  minis- 
ter is  on  hand.  The  boys  have  been  under  a 
woman  teacher  all  day  and  are  glad  to  meet  a 
man  who  will  lead  them  in  vigorous  play.  It 


The  Boy  in  Village  and  Country        45 

may  be  baseball,  football,  trackwork  with 
relay  races,  military  drill,  or  the  like — all  they 
need  is  one  who  knows  how,  who  is  a  recognized 
leader,  and  who  serves  as  an  immediate  court 
of  appeal.  If  they  do  not  get  more  moral 
benefit  and  real  equipment  for  life's  struggle 
in  this  hour  and  a  half  than  they  are  likely  to 
get  from  a  day's  bookwork  in  the  average  one- 
room,  all-grades,  girl-directed  country  school, 
it  must  be  because  the  minister  is  a  sorry 
specimen. 

The  city  minister  takes  his  boys  on  outings 
to  the  country.  The  country  minister  will 
bring  his  boys  on  "innings"  to  the  city.  As  they 
see  him  he  is  pre-eminently  the  apostle  of  that 
stirring,  larger  world.  What  abilities  may  not 
be  awakened,  what  horizons  that  now  settle 
about  the  neighboring  farm  or  village  may  not 
be  gloriously  lifted  and  broadened,  what  riches 
that  printed  page  cannot  convey  may  not  be 
planted  in  the  young  mind  by  the  pastor  who 
introduces  country  boys  to  their  first  glimpse 
of  great  universities,  gigantic  industries,  famous 
libraries,  inspiring  churches,  and  stately  build- 
ings of  government  ? 

One  need  not  mention  such  possibilities  as 
taking  a  group  to  the  fair  or  the  circus,  or  on 
expeditions  for  fishing,  swimming,  and  hunt- 


46  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

ing — all  of  them  easy  roads  to  immortality  in 
a  boy's  affection. 

Further,  the  minister  is  not  only  the  apostle 
of  that  greater  world  but  the  exemplar  of  the 
highest  culture.  He  is  to  bring  that  culture 
to  the  country  not  only  through  his  own  person 
but  by  lectures  on  art  and  literature,  so  that  the 
young  may  participate  in  the  world's  refined 
and  imperishable  wealth.  This  may  mean 
illustrated  lectures  on  art  and  the  distribution 
of  good  prints  which  will  gradually  supplant 
the  chromos  and  gaudy  advertisements  which 
often  hold  undisputed  sway  on  the  walls  of  the 
farmhouse. 

It  might  also  be  helpful  to  our  partly  foreign 
rural  population  to  have  lectures  on  history 
such  as  will  acquaint  boys  and  others  with  the 
real  heroes  of  various  nations,  preserve  pride 
in  the  best  national  traditions,  and  ultimately 
develop  a  sane  and  sound  patriotism  among  all 
our  citizens.  The  church  building  is  not  too 
sacred  a  place  for  an  endeavor  of  this  kind. 
The  ordinary  stereopticon  and  the  moving 
picture  should  not  be  disdained  in  so  good  a 
cause.  Boys  are  hero-worshipers,  and  history 
is  full  of  heroes  of  first-rate  religious  significance. 

As  a  further  factor  in  elevating  and  enriching 
the  life  of  the  country  boy,  the  minister  may 


The  Boy  in  Village  and  Country        47 

endeavor  to  create  a  taste  for  good  reading. 
The  tendency  is  that  all  the  serious  reading 
shall  be  along  agricultural  rather  than  cultural 
lines  and  that  the  lighter  reading  shall  be  only 
the  newspaper  and  the  trashy  story.  The 
minister  should  enlarge  the  boy's  life  by  ac- 
quainting him  with  the  great  classics.  A 
taste  for  good  things  should  be  formed  early. 
With  the  older  boys,  from  the  years  of  sixteen 
or  eighteen  upward,  organization  for  literary 
development  and  debating  should  be  tried. 
A  good  deal  in  a  cultural  way  is  necessary 
to  offset  the  danger  which  now  besets  the  suc- 
cessful farmer  of  becoming  a  slave  to  money- 
making,  after  the  fashion  of  the  great  magnates 
whom  he  condemns  but  with  rather  less  of  their 
general  perspective  of  life. 

The  minister  might  help  organize  a  mock 
trial,  county  council,  school  board,  state 
legislature,  or  something  of  that  sort,  as  a  social 
and  educative  device  for  the  older  boys.  Under 
certain  conditions  music  could  well  form  the 
fundamental  bond  of  association,  and  groups 
gathered  about  such  interests  as  these  could 
meet  from  house  to  house,  thus  promoting  the 
social  life  of  the  parish  in  no  small  degree. 
Young  women  might  well  share  in  the  organiza- 
tions that  are  literary  and  musical.  The 


48  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

great  vogue  of  the  country  singing-school  a 
generation  ago  was  no  mere  accident. 

Could  not  the  minister  enter  into  the  cam- 
paign for  the  improvement  of  the  conditions 
of  farm  life  and  stimulate  the  beautifying  of 
the  dooryards  by  giving  a  prize  to  the  boy  who, 
in  the  judgment  of  an  impartial  committee,  had 
excelled  in  this  good  work?  Could  he  not 
interest  his  boys'  organization  in  beautifying 
the  church  grounds  and  so  enlist  them  in  a 
practical  altruistic  endeavor?  Might  he  not 
find  a  very  vital  point  of  contact  with  the 
country  boy  by  conducting  institutes  for 
farmers'  boys,  perhaps  once  a  month,  in  which 
by  the  generous  use  of  government  bulletins 
and  by  illustration  and  actual  experiment  he 
might  awaken  a  scientific  interest  in  farming 
and  impart  valuable  information?  In  con- 
nection with  this  the  boys  could  be  induced  to 
conduct  experiments  on  plots  of  ground  on 
their  fathers'  farms.  Exhibits  could  be  made 
at  the  church  and  prizes  awarded.  It  would  be 
a  good  thing  too  if  the  profits,  or  part  of  the 
profits,  from  such  experimental  plots  could  be 
voluntarily  devoted  to  some  philanthropic 
or  religious  cause.  This  would  have  the 
double  value  of  performing  an  altruistic  act  and 
of  intelligently  canvassing  the  claim  of  some 


The  Boy  in  Village  and  Country        49 

recognized  philanthropy.  So  also  the  raising  of 
chickens  and  stock  might  be  tried  in  a  limited 
way  with  the  scientific  method  and  the  philan- 
thropic purpose  combined. 

In  some  places  botanical  collections  can  be 
made  of  great  interest;  or  the  gathering  and 
polishing  of  all  the  kinds  of  wood  in  the  vicinity, 
with  an  exhibition  in  due  time,  may  appeal  to 
the  boys.  In  addition  to  forestry  there  is 
ornithology,  geology,  and,  for  the  early  age 
of  twelve  to  fifteen,  bows  and  arrows,  cross- 
bows, scouting,  and  various  expeditions  answer- 
ing to  the  adventure  instinct. 

The  wise  country  minister  will  certainly  keep 
in  touch  with  the  public  school,  will  be  seen 
there  frequently,  and  will  give  his  genuine 
support  to  the  teacher  in  all  of  her  endeavor  to 
do  a  really  noble  work  with  a  very  limited  outfit. 
He  will  help  her  to  withstand  the  gross  utilita- 
rianism of  the  average  farmer,  who  is  slow  to 
believe  in  anything  for  today  that  cannot  be 
turned  into  dollars  tomorrow.  What  with  the 
consolidation  of  township  schools,  improved 
communication  by  rural  delivery  and  telephone, 
better  roads,  the  increasing  use  of  automobiles, 
and  the  rising  interest  in  rural  life  generally, 
together  with  a  broad  view  of  pastoral  leader- 
ship and  the  "cure  of  souls"  for  the  whole 


50  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

countryside,  the  minister  may  be  a  vital  factor 
in  shaping  the  social  and  religious  life  of  the 
country  boy;  and  he  will,  because  of  his  char- 
acter and  office,  illumine  common  needs  and 
homely  interests  with  an  ever-refined  and 
spiritual  ideal.  His  ministry,  however,  cannot 
be  all  top,  a  cloudland  impalpable  and  fleeting. 
It  was  with  common  footing  and  vital  ties  that 
Goldsmith's  village  preacher 

Allured  to  brighter  worlds  and  led  the  way. 

After  such  fashion  and  with  thorough  rootage 
in  country  life  must  the  minister  of  today 
turn  to  spiritual  account  the  wealth-producing 
methods  of  farming.  Out  of  soil  cultivation 
he  must  guarantee  soul  culture  by  setting  forth 
in  person,  word,  and  institution  those  ideals 
which  have  always  claimed  some  of  the  best 
boyhood  of  the  country  for  the  world's  great 
tasks. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  MODERN  CITY  AND  THE  NORMAL  BOY1 

Modern  cities  have  been  built  to  concentrate 
industrial  opportunity.  They  have  taken  their 
rise  and  form  subsequent  to  the  industrial 
revolution  wrought  by  steam  and  as  a  result 
of  that  revolution.  So  far  they  have  paid  only 
minor  attention  to  the  conservation  or  improve- 
ment of  human  life.  Justice,  not  to  mention 
mercy,  toward  the  family  and  the  individual 
has  not  been  the  guiding  star.  The  human 
element  has  been  left  to  fit  as  best  it  could  into 
a  system  of  maximum  production  at  minimum 
cost,  rapid  and  profitable  transportation,  dis- 
tribution calculated  to  emphasize  and  exploit 
need,  and  satisfactory  dividends  on  what  was 
often  supposititious  stock;  and  because  these 
have  been  the  main  considerations  the  latent 
and  priceless  wealth  of  boyhood  has  been  largely 
sacrificed. 

The  amazing  and  as  yet  unchecked  movement 
of  population  toward  the  city  means  usually 
a  curtailment  of  living  area  for  all  concerned. 

1  Books  recommended:  Jane  Addams,  The  Spirit  of  Youth  and 
the  City  Streets,  Macmillan;  D.  F.  Wilcox,  Great  American  Cities, 
Macmillan. 

Si 


52  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

The  more  people  per  acre  the  greater  the  limi- 
tation of  individual  action  and  the  greater 
the  need  of  self-control  and  social  supervision. 
Restrictions  of  all  sorts  are  necessary  for  the 
peace  of  a  community  wherein  the  physical 
conditions  almost  force  people  to  jostle  and 
irritate  one  another.  In  such  a  situation  the 
more  spontaneous  and  unconventional  the 
expression  of  life  the  greater  the  danger  of 
bothering  one's  neighbors  and  of  conflicting 
with  necessary  but  artificial  restrictions.  Even 
innocent  failure  to  comprehend  the  situation 
may  constitute  one  anti-social  or  delinquent, 
and  the  foreigner  as  well  as  the  boy  is  often 
misjudged  in  this  way. 

But  on  the  score  of  the  city's  inevitable 
"Thou  shalt  not,"  it  is  the  boy  who  suffers 
more  than  any  other  member  of  the  community. 
His  intensely  motor  propensities,  love  of  ad- 
venture, dun  idea  of  modern  property  rights, 
and  the  readiness  with  which  he  merges  into 
the  stimulating  and  mischief -loving  "gang" 
operate  to  constitute  him  the  peerless  nuisance 
of  the  congested  district,  the  scourge  of  an 
exasperated  and  neurasthenic  public,  the  enemy 
of  good  order  and  private  rights. 

Hence  juvenile  delinquency  and  crime  in- 
crease proportionately  with  the  crowding  of  the 


The  Modern  City  and  the  Normal  Boy    53 

modern  city,  the  boy  offending  five  times  to  the 
girl's  once,  and  directing  80  per  cent  of  his  mis- 
demeanors against  property  rights.  In  the 
city  of  Chicago  alone  the  1909  records  show 
that  in  one  year  there  passed  through  the  courts 
3,870  children  under  seventeen  years  of  age, 
10,449  under  twenty  years,  and  25,580  under 
twenty-five  years  of  age.  But  it  is  not  the 
actual  delinquency  of  which  the  law  takes 
account  that  most  impresses  one;  it  is  rather 
the  weight  of  failure  and  mediocrity,  the  host 
of  "seconds"  and  "culls"  that  the  city  treat- 
ment of  childhood  produces. 

The  constrictions,  vicissitudes,  and  insta- 
bility of  city  life  often  make  such  havoc  of  the 
home  that  the  boy  is  practically  adrift  at  an 
early  age.  He  has  no  abiding-place  of  sufficient 
permanency  to  create  a  wealth  of  association 
or  to  develop  those  loyalties  that  enrich  the 
years  and  serve  as  anchorage  in  the  storms  of 
life.  He  moves  from  one  flat  to  another  every 
year,  and  in  many  cases  every  six  months.  In 
such  a  kaleidoscopic  experience  the  true  old- 
fashioned  neighbor,  whose  charitable  judgment 
formerly  robbed  the  law  of  its  victims,  is  sadly 
missed.  Formerly  allowance  was  made  out 
of  neighborly  regard  for  the  parents  of  bother- 
some boys,  but  among  the  flat-dwellers  of  today 


54  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

proximity  means  alienation,  familiarity  breeds 
contempt,  and  far  from  being  neighbors, 
those  who  live  across  the  hall  or  above  or  below 
are  aggrieved  persons  who  have  to  put  up  with 
the  noise  of  an  unknown  rascal  whose  parents, 
like  themselves,  occupy  temporarily  these  re- 
stricted quarters — these  homes  attenuated 
beyond  recognition. 

A  garden  plot,  small  live  stock,  pets,  wood- 
pile, and  workshop  are  all  out  of  the  question, 
for  the  city  has  deprived  the  average  boy  not 
only  of  fit  living  quarters  but  of  the  oppor- 
tunity to  enact  a  fair  part  of  his  glorious  life- 
drama  within  the  friendly  atmosphere  of  home. 
He  cannot  collect  things  with  a  view  to  pro- 
prietorship and  construction  and  have  them 
under  his  own  roof.  The  noise  and  litter 
incident  to  building  operations  of  such  pro- 
portions as  please  boys  will  not  be  tolerated. 
Moreover,  this  home,  which  has  reached  the 
vanishing  point,  makes  almost  no  demand  for 
his  co-operation  in  its  maintenance.  There 
are  no  chores  for  the  flat  boy  wherein  he  may 
be  busy  and  dignified  as  a  partner  in  the  family 
life.  To  make  the  flat  a  little  more  sumptuous 
and  call  it  an  apartment  does  not  solve  the 
problem,  and  with  the  rapid  decrease  of 
detached  houses  and  the  occupation  of  the 


The  Modern  City  and  the  Normal  Boy    55 

territory  with  flat  buildings  the  city  is  pro- 
viding for  itself  a  much  more  serious  juvenile 
problem  than  it  now  has. 

But  the  industrial  usurpation  takes  toll  of 
the  family  in  other  ways.  The  intense  eco- 
nomic struggle  and  the  long  distance  "to  work" 
rob  the  boy  of  the  father's  presence  and  throw 
upon  the  mother  an  unjust  burden.  To 
return  home  late  and  exhausted,  to  be  hardly 
equal  to  the  economic  demand,  to  see  the  pre- 
nuptial  ideals  fade,  to  pass  from  disappoint- 
ment to  discouragement  and  from  chronic 
irritability  to  a  broken  home  is  not  uncommon. 
The  boy  is  unfortunate  if  the  "incompatibility" 
end  in  desertion  or  divorce,  and  equally  unfor- 
tunate if  it  does  not. 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  male  usually 
stands  from  under  when  the  home  is  about  to 
collapse,  and  to  the  further  fact  that  industrial 
accidents,  diseases,  and  fatalities  in  the  city 
claim  many  fathers,  there  frequently  falls 
upon  the  mother  the  undivided  burden  of  a 
considerable  family.  If  she  goes  out  to  work 
the  children  are  neglected;  if  she  takes  roomers 
family  life  of  the  kind  that  nurtures  health 
and  morality  is  at  an  end.  And  just  as  the 
apparently  fortunate  boy  of  the  apartment  is 
forced  upon  the  street,  so  the  boy  from  the 


56  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

overcrowded  old-fashioned  house  is  pushed  out 
by  the  roomers  who  must  have  first  attention 
because  of  bread-and-butter  considerations. 
Much  more  could  be  said  of  all  the  various 
kinds  of  neglect,  misfortune,  and  avarice  that 
commit  boys  to  the  doubtful  influences  of  the 
city  street,  but  the  main  object  is  to  point  out 
the  trend  of  home  life  in  the  modern  city  with- 
out denying  that  there  are  indeed  many  ade- 
quate homes  still  to  be  found,  especially  in 
suburban  districts. 

A  survey  of  the  street  and  its  allied  institu- 
tions will  throw  light  upon  the  precocious 
ways  of  the  typical  city  boy.  The  street  is 
the  playground,  especially  of  the  small  boy 
who  must  remain  within  sight  and  call  of  home. 
Numerous  fatalities,  vigorous  police,  and  big 
recreation  parks  will  not  prevent  the  instinc- 
tive use  of  the  nearest  available  open  area. 
If  congestion  is  to  be  permitted  and  numerous 
small  parks  cannot  be  had,  then  the  street  must 
have  such  care  and  its  play  zones  must  be  so 
guarded  and  supervised  that  the  children  will 
be  both  safe  from  danger  and  healthfully  and 
vigorously  employed. 

In  the  busier  parts  of  the  city  the  constant 
street  noise  puts  a  nervous  tax  upon  the  chil- 
dren; the  proximity  of  so  many  bright  and 


The  Modern  City  and  the  Normal  Boy    57 

moving  objects  taxes  the  eyes;  the  splash  of 
gaudy  and  gross  advertisements  creates  a 
fevered  imagination;  slang,  profanity,  and 
vulgarity  lend  a  smart  effect;  the  merchant's 
tempting  display  often  leads  to  theft,  and  the 
immodest  dress  of  women  produces  an  evil 
effect  upon  the  mind  of  the  overstimulated 
adolescent  boy;  opportunities  to  elude  observa- 
tion and  to  deceive  one's  parents  abound; 
social  control  weakens;  ideals  become  neurotic, 
flashy,  distorted;  the  light  and  allurement  of 
the  street  encourage  late  hours;  the  posters 
and  "barkers"  of  cheap  shows  often  appeal  to 
illicit  curiosity,  and  the  galaxy  of  apparent  fun 
and  adventure  is  such  as  to  tax  to  the  full  the 
wholesome  and  restraining  influence  of  even  the 
best  home. 

The  cheap  show  is  an  adjunct  of  the  street 
and  a  potent  educational  factor  in  the  training 
of  the  city  lad.  These  motion-picture  shows 
have  an  estimated  daily  patronage  in  the  United 
States  of  two  and  a  quarter  millions,  and  in 
Chicago  32,000  children  will  be  found  in  them 
daily.  Many  of  these  children  are  helplessly 
open  to  suggestion,  owing  to  malnutrition  and 
the  nervous  strain  which  the  city  imposes; 
and  harmful  impressions  received  in  this  vivid 
way  late  at  night  cannot  be  resisted.  At  one 


$8  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

time,  after  a  set  of  pictures  had  been  given  on 
the  West  Side  which  depicted  the  hero  as  a 
burglar,  thirteen  boys  were  brought  into  court, 
all  of  whom  had  in  their  possession  house- 
breakers' tools,  and  all  stated  they  had  invested 
in  these  tools  because  they  had  seen  these 
pictures  and  they  were  anxious  to  become 
gentlemanly  burglars.1  Through  censorship  bu- 
reaus, national  and  municipal,  the  character 
of  the  films  put  on  exhibition  is  being  greatly 
improved,  and  the  moving  picture  is  destined 
to  a  large  use  by  educational  and  religious 
agencies. 

Many  instances  of  valuable  moving-picture 
exhibits  come  to  mind,  including  those  on 
travel,  nature-study,  the  passion  play,  athletic 
sports,  sanitation  (especially  the  exhibits  show- 
ing the  breeding  and  habits  of  the  house-fly), 
and  various  others  having  to  do  with  the  health, 
happiness,  and  morality  of  the  people;  and 
from  the  study  of  hundreds  of  nickel  shows 
one  is  forced  in  justice  to  say  that  although 
there  are  dangers  from  the  children's  being 
out  late  at  night  and  going  to  such  places 
unattended,  and  although  the  recreation  is 
passive  and  administered  rather  than  secured 

1  See  monograph  on  Five-  and  Ten-Cent  Theatres  by  Louise  de 
Koven  Bowen,  The  Juvenile  Protective  Association  of  Chicago. 


The  Modern  City  and  the  Normal  Boy     59 

by  wholesome  muscular  exercise,  yet  there  has 
been  brought  within  the  reach  of  the  entire 
family  of  moderate  means  an  evening  of  inno- 
cent enjoyment  which  may  be  had  together 
and  at  small  expense.  Properly  regulated, 
it  is  an  offset  to  the  saloon  and  a  positive 
medium  of  good  influence. 

Such  a  commendation,  however,  can  safely 
be  made  for  those  communities  only  which  take 
the  pains  to  censor  all  films  before  exhibition  is 
permitted.  In  less  than  two  years  the  censor- 
ship bureau  of  Chicago  has  excluded  one  hun- 
dred and  thirteen  miles  of  objectionable  films. 
It  should  be  said  also  that  the  vaudeville, 
which  now  often  accompanies  the  nickel  and 
dime  shows,  is  usually  coarse  and  sometimes 
immoral.  The  music,  alas,  speaks  for  itself 
and  constitutes  a  sorry  sort  of  education  except 
in  the  foreign  quarters  of  our  great  cities 
where,  in  conformity  to  a  better  taste,  it 
becomes  classic  and  valuable. 

But  to  describe  a  typical  film  of  the  better 
sort  and  to  indicate  its  practical  use  may  have 
some  suggestive  value  for  wide-awake  ministers 
who  wish  to  turn  to  good  account  every  legiti- 
mate social  agency.  During  the  Christmas 
season  of  1911  the  following  film  story  was  set 
forth  to  vast  audiences  of  people  with  telling 


60  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

effect:  In  a  wretched  hovel  you  see  a  lame 
mother  with  three  pale  children.  The  rich 
young  landlord  comes  to  collect  rent  and  is 
implored  to  improve  the  place.  This  he  refuses 
to  do  because  of  his  small  returns  on  the  prop- 
perty.  He  departs.  The  father  of  the  family 
returns  from  work.  They  eat  the  bread  of  the 
desolate. 

The  landlord  marries  and  sets  out  on  an 
ocean  voyage  with  his  bride.  On  the  same 
ship  the  father  of  the  tubercular  family,  work- 
ing as  stoker  or  deck  hand,  reaches  the  last 
stages  of  the  disease  and  in  his  dying  hours  is 
mercifully  attended  by  the  bride.  She  con- 
tracts the  disease  and  later  appears  weak  and 
fading.  The  husband,  ascertaining  the  real 
nature  of  her  malady,  brings  her  home  with  the 
purpose  of  placing  her  in  the  private  sanitarium. 
There  is  no  room  in  this  institution,  but  good 
accommodations  are  found  in  the  public  sani- 
tarium to  which  she  goes  and  where  she  finds  the 
children  from  their  tenement. 

The  facts  have  now  been  put  in  such  juxta- 
position that  the  husband  has  a  change  of 
heart.  The  patients  recover  and  the  landlord 
endows  a  great  sanitarium  for  the  tuberculous. 
One  may  easily  criticize  the  crudeness  of  the 
plot  and  the  improbabilities  with  which  it 


The  Modern  City  and  the  Normal  Boy    61 

bristles.  But  it  sets  forth  love  and  death 
and  conversion  and  an  appeal  to  rescue  those 
who  suffer  from  the  great  white  plague:  and 
this  was  sufficient  for  the  crowd,  for  all  are 
children  when  beholding  the  elemental  things 
of  life.  At  any  rate  the  women  who  stood  at 
the  exits  of  the  theater  selling  the  Christmas 
stamps  of  the  anti-tuberculosis  society  will  tell 
you  that  the  purse  strings  as  well  as  the  heart 
strings  of  the  crowd  relaxed  to  the  crude  but 
deep  melody  of  mercy. 

The  social  hunger  also,  turning  its  back 
upon  the  meager  home  and  heightened  by  the 
monotony  and  semi-independence  of  early  toil, 
takes  to  the  street.  The  quest  is  quickly 
commercialized  and  debauched  by  the  public 
dance  halls  which  are  controlled  by  the  liquor 
interests.  A  recent  thorough  investigation  of 
328  of  these  halls  in  Chicago  showed  a  nightly 
attendance  of  some  86,000  young  people,  the 
average  age  of  the  boys  being  sixteen  to  eighteen 
years  and  of  the  girls  fourteen  to  sixteen  years. 
Liquor  was  sold  in  240  halls,  190  had  saloons 
opening  into  them,  in  178  immoral  dancing 
went  on  unhindered.  The  worst  halls  had  the 
least  dancing  and  the  longest  intermissions. 
Everything  was  conducted  so  as  to  increase 
the  sale  of  liquor,  and  between  the  hours  of 


62  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

one  and  three  A.M.  the  toughest  element  from 
the  saloons,  which  close  at  one  o'clock,  poured 
into  the  halls  to  complete  the  debauch  and  to 
make  full  use  of  the  special  liquor  license  which 
is  good  until  the  later  hour.1 

The  quest  of  fun  and  social  adventure  can 
be  traced  also  through  other  commercialized 
channels,  in  public  poolrooms  where  minors 
waste  tune  and  money — gamble,  smoke,  tell 
unclean  stories  and  plan  mischief;  in  great 
amusement  parks  where  the  boy  and  girl  on 
pleasure  bent  meet  as  strangers  to  each  other 
and  without  social  sponsor,  where  the  deluded 
girl  not  only  accepts  but  often  invites  a  gener- 
osity which  will  tend  to  compromise  if  not 
break  down  the  morality  of  both;  on  excursion 
boats  which,  if  neglected,  tend  to  become 
floating  palaces  of  shame;  and  in  many  ways 
that  lead  from  the  inadequate  home  to  sorrow 
and  disaster. 

It  is  to  be  doubted  whether  the  average  pastor 
or  parent  has  an  adequate  conception  of  the 
tremendous  odds  against  which  the  moral 
forces  contend  for  the  conservation  of  the 
city's  childhood  and  youth,  and  whether  we 
have  as  yet  begun  to  solve  the  problems  that 

1  See  monograph,  A  Study  of  Public  Dance  Halls,  by  Louise 
de  Koven  Bowen,  The  Juvenile  Protective  Association  of  Chicago. 


The  Modern  City  and  the  Normal  Boy    63 

arise  from  the  city's  sinister  treatment  of  the 
home.  Public  parks,  field-houses,  libraries,  and 
social  settlements  graciously  mitigate  the  evil, 
but  are  far  from  curing  it. 

To  turn  to  the  public  schools  with  the  expec- 
tation that  they  can  immediately,  or  at  length, 
make  good  the  injury  done  the  home  by  indus- 
trial usurpation  is  to  expect  more  than  is  fair 
or  possible.  They  are  doing  valiantly  and  well, 
they  are  becoming  social  centers  and  in  due 
time  they  will  have  more  adequately  in  hand 
both  the  vocational  and  recreational  interests 
of  youth.  With  this  accession  of  educational 
territory  will  come  a  proportionate  increase  in 
the  number  of  male  teachers,  and  a  further 
diminution  of  the  fallacy  that  the  only  kind 
of  order  is  silence  and  the  prime  condition  of 
mental  concentration  inaction.  The  system 
will  become  less  and  the  boy  more  important. 

But  the  whole  community  is  the  master 
educator;  the  best  home  is  not  exempt  from  its 
influence  nor  the  best  school  greatly  superior 
to  its  morality.  In  fact  the  school,  even  as  the 
place  of  amusement  and  all  places  of  congrega- 
tion, serves  to  diffuse  the  moral  problems  of 
boyhood  throughout  the  whole  mass.  Moral 
sanitation  is  more  difficult  than  physical  sani- 
tation, and  the  spoiled  boy  is  a  good  conductor 


64  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

of  various  forms  of  moral  virus.  The  moral 
training  involved  in  the  ordinary  working  of 
the  public  school  is  considerable  and  is  none 
the  less  valuable  because  it  is  indirect.  With 
more  attention  to  physical  condition,  corrective 
exercise,  and  organized  play,  and  with  the 
motivating  of  a  larger  area  of  school  work, 
the  moral  value  of  the  institution  will  be  still 
further  enhanced. 

The  church  addresses  itself  to  the  problem  in 
ways  both  general  and  specific,  positive  and  neg- 
ative. In  its  stimulation  of  public  conscience, 
in  its  inspiration  of  those  who  work  directly  for 
improved  conditions,  and  in  Sunday  schools 
and  young  people's  societies,  a  contribution  of 
no  small  value  is  continually  made.  A  rather 
negative,  or  at  best,  concessive  attitude  toward 
recreation  and  a  disposition  to  rest  satisfied 
with  the  denunciation  of  harmful  institutions 
and  activities  militates  against  her  greatest 
usefulness.  She  must  rather  compensate  for 
home  shortages  and  compete  with  the  doubt- 
ful allurements  of  the  city.  This  she  may  do 
in  part  within  her  own  plant  and  in  part  by 
encouraging  and  supporting  all  wholesome 
outlets  for  the  athletic  zest,  social  adventure, 
worthy  ambition,  and  vocational  quest  of 
youth.  Those  segments  of  the  church  which 


The  Modern  City  and  the  Normal  Boy    65 

believe  in  bringing  every  legitimate  human 
interest  within  the  scope  and  sanction  of  religion 
will  in  the  nature  of  things  offer  a  more  imme- 
diate and  telling  competition  to  the  harmful 
devices  of  the  city. 

But  with  the  exception  of  a  few  boys'  clubs 
and  scout  patrols,  for  whose  direction  there 
is  always  a  shameful  shortage  of  willing  and 
able  lay  leadership,  the  church  has  not  as 
yet  grasped  the  problem;  and  this  remains 
true  when  one  grants  further  the  value  of 
organized  boys'  classes  in  the  Sunday  school 
and  of  the  "socials"  and  parties  of  young 
people's  societies.  To  be  sure,  the  Protestant 
church,  expressing  itself  through  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  has  laid  hold  of 
the  more  respectable  edge  of  the  problem. 
But  with  few  exceptions  this  work  is  not  as 
yet  missionary,  militant,  or  diffused  to  the 
communities  of  greatest  need.  A  few  experi- 
ments are  now  being  made,  but  probably  the 
Y.M.C.A.,  more  than  the  individual  church, 
is  under  the  necessity  of  treating  the  underlying 
economic  evils  with  a  very  safe  degree  of  cau- 
tion; and  in  both  there  is  the  ever-recurrent 
need  of  an  unsparing  analysis  of  motive  for  the 
purpose  of  ascertaining  which,  after  all,  is  para- 
mount— human  welfare  or  institutional  glory. 


66  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

The  tendency  ever  is  to  cultivate  profitable 
and  self-supporting  fields  and  sound  business 
policies.  But  the  case  of  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  boys  living  in  localities  that  are 
socially  impoverished,  unfortunate,  and  debas- 
ing constitutes  a  call  to  the  missionary  spirit 
and  method.  If  the  impulse  which  is  so  ready 
and  generous  in  the  exportation  of  religion 
and  so  wise  in  adaptation  to  the  interests  and 
abilities  of  the  foreign  group  could  but  lay  hold 
of  our  most  difficult  communities  with  like 
devotion  and  with  scientific  care  there  would 
be  developed  in  due  time  advanced  and  ade- 
quate methods,  which  in  turn  would  take  their 
rightful  place  as  a  part  of  civic  or  educational 
administration. 

As  is  illustrated  in  both  education  and 
philanthropy,  the  function  of  the  church  in 
social  development  has  been  of  this  order,  and 
the  mistake  of  short-sighted  religious  lead- 
ers has  been  to  desert  these  children  when 
once  they  have  found  an  abode  within  the 
civil  structure.  The  pastoral  spirit  of  the  new 
era  claims  again  the  entire  parish,  however 
organized,  and  guards  its  children  still.  The 
pioneer  is  needed  at  home  just  as  he  is  needed 
abroad,  and  the  pioneering  agency  must  have 
the  same  zeal  and  freedom  in  order  to  mark 


The  Modern  City  and  the  Normal  Boy    67 

out  the  way  of  salvation  for  hordes  of  wild 
city  boys  who  are  the  menacing  product  of 
blind  economic  haste. 

The  church  should  see  this  big  problem  and 
accept  the  challenge.  Society  should  awaken 
to  the  fact  that  in  our  large  cities  there  is 
growing  up  a  generation  of  boys  who  morally 
"cannot  discern  between  their  right  hand  and 
their  left  hand" — this  through  no  fault  of 
theirs,  for  they  are  but  a  product.  If  they  are 
unlovely,  "smart,"  sophisticated,  ungrateful, 
and  predatory,  what  has  made  them  so? 
Who  has  inverted  the  prophetic  promise  and 
given  them  ashes  for  beauty  and  the  spirit 
of  heaviness  for  the  garment  of  praise?  As 
matters  now  stand  it  is  not  the  ninety  and  nine 
who  are  safe  and  the  one  in  peril.  That  ratio 
tends  to  be  reversed,  and  will  be  unless  right- 
minded  people  accept  individually  and  in  their 
organized  relations  a  just  responsibility  for  the 
new  life  that  is  committed  for  shaping  and 
destiny  to  the  evolving  modern  city. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  ETHICAL  VALUE  OF  ORGANIZED  PLAY1 

The  value  of  work  as  a  prime  factor  in  char- 
acter building  must  not  be  overlooked.  In  the 
revival  of  play  that  is  sweeping  over  our  Ameri- 
can cities  and  in  the  tendency  to  eliminate 
effort  from  modern  education  there  is  danger 
of  erecting  a  superficial  and  mere  pleasure- 
seeking  ideal  of  life.  It  is  upon  the  back- 
ground of  the  sacred  value  of  work  that  the 
equally  legitimate  moral  factor  of  play  is  here 
considered.  Further,  the  value  of  undirected 
play  in  cultivating  initiative,  resourcefulness, 
and  imagination,  especially  in  young  children, 
is  worth  bearing  in  mind.  One  must  grant 
also  that  play  is  not  always  enlisted  in  the 
service  of  morality.  But  neither  is  religion. 
Both  may  be.  At  any  rate  it  is  evident  that 
when  boy  nature  is  subjected  to  city  conditions 

1  Books  and  articles  recommended:  E.  B.  Mero,  The  American 
Playground,  Dale  Association,  Boston;  K.  Groos,  The  Play  of 
Man,  D.  Appleton  &  Co.;  J.  H.  Bancroft,  Games  for  the  Play- 
ground, Home,  School,  and  Gymnasium,  Macmillan;  C.  E.  Sea- 
shore, "The  Play  Impulse  and  Attitude  in  Religion,"  The  Ameri- 
can Journal  of  Theology,  XIV,  No.  4;  Joseph  Lee,  "Play  as  Medi- 
cine," The  Survey,  XXVII,  No.  5. 

68 


The  Ethical  Value  of  Organized  Play    69 

we  must  either  provide  proper  outlet  and 
guidance  for  the  boy's  play  instincts  or  be 
guilty  of  forcing  him  into  the  position  of  a 
law-breaker  and  a  nuisance. 

Reduced  to  its  lowest  terms,  organized  play 
is  thus  recognized  as  a  convenient  substitute 
for  misconduct.  Even  the  property  owner 
and  peace-loving  citizen,  if  moved  by  no  higher 
motive,  will  agree  to  the  adage  that  "Satan 
finds  some  mischief  still  for  idle  hands  to  do," 
and  will  welcome  the  endeavor  to  safeguard 
property  rights  and  promote  the  peace  of  the 
community  by  drawing  off  the  adventurous 
and  mischief-making  energies  of  the  boys  into 
the  less  expensive  channels  of  play.  Practical 
men  are  quite  agreed  that  it  is  better  for  "gangs" 
to  release  their  energy  and  ingenuity  against 
one  another  in  a  series  of  athletic  games  than 
to  seek  similar  adventure  and  satisfaction  in 
conflict  with  established  property  rights  and 
the  recognized  agencies  of  peace  and  order. 

Nevertheless  there  persists  in  the  church, 
however  unconsciously,  a  sort  of  piety  that 
disregards  the  body,  and  the  conventional 
Christian  ideal  has  certainly  been  anemic 
and  negative  in  the  matter  of  recreation.  The 
Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  with  their 
reproduction  of  the  Greek  ideal  of  physical 


70  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

well-being  have  served  to  temper  the  other- 
worldly type  of  Christianity  with  the  idea  of  a 
well-rounded  and  physically  competent  life  as 
being  consonant  with  the  will  of  God. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century 
Francke  of  Halle,  an  educational  organizer 
and  philanthropist  of  no  mean  proportion, 
said,  "Play  must  be  forbidden  in  any  and  all 
of  its  forms.  The  children  shall  be  instructed 
in  this  matter  in  such  a  way  as  to  show  them, 
through  the  presentation  of  religious  principles, 
the  wastefulness  and  folly  of  all  play.  They 
shall  be  led  to  see  that  play  will  distract  their 
hearts  and  minds  from  God,  the  Eternal  Good, 
and  will  work  nothing  but  harm  to  their 
spiritual  lives." 

Only  gradually  does  "  the-world-as-a-vale-of 
tears"  and  " the-remnant-that-shall-be-saved " 
idea  give  place  to  a  faith  that  claims  for  God 
the  entire  world  with  its  present  life  as  well 
as  individual  immortality  in  future  felicity. 
Miracle  and  cataclysm  and  postmortem  glory— 
the  ever-ready  recourse  of  baffled  hope  and 
persecuted  Christianity — are  giving  place  more 
and  more  to  a  Christian  conquest  that  is  orderly 
and  inclusive  of  the  whole  sweep  of  human 
life.  The  church  is  but  dimly  conscious,  as 
yet,  that  through  the  aid  of  science  she  has 


The  Ethical  Value  of  Organized  Play    71 

attained  this  magnificent  optimism;  much 
less  does  she  realize  its  full  implication  for 
social  service  and  the  saving  of  the  individual, 
both  body  and  soul. 

The  minister  as  the  herald  and  exemplar 
of  such  an  imperial  salvation  cannot  ignore 
the  exceptional  opportunities  which  the  play 
interests  of  boyhood  offer.  He  whose  task  has 
been  to  reconcile  men  to  God,  to  bring  them 
into  harmony  with  the  universe  in  its  ultimate 
content,  cannot  neglect  those  activities  which 
more  than  anything  else  in  the  life  of  the  boy 
secure  the  happy  co-ordination  of  his  powers, 
the  placing  of  himself  in  right  relation  with 
others  and  in  obedience  to  law.  These  are 
the  moral  and  religious  accomplishments  aimed 
at  in  the  teaching  of  reconciliation  which  bulks 
so  large  in  Christian  doctrine;  and  by  whatever 
means  this  right  adjustment  to  self,  to  others, 
and  to  the  will  of  God  is  brought  about,  it 
always  produces  the  sure  harvest  of  service 
and  joy. 

To  some  undoubtedly  it  will  seem  sacrilegious 
to  suggest  that  play  can  have  anything  to  do 
in  a  transaction  so  deeply  moral  and  so  funda- 
mentally religious.  Yet  a  psychological  analy- 
sis of  both  play  and  worship  at  their  best  will 
reveal  marked  similarities  in  spontaneity,  in 


72  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

self-expression  for  its  own  sake  and  free  from 
ulterior  ends,  in  symbolism,  semi-intoxication 
and  rhythm,  in  extension  and  enrichment  of 
the  self,  and  in  preparation  for  the  largest  and 
most  effective  living.  That  such  a  claim  is 
not  altogether  extravagant  may  be  demon- 
strated in  part  by  canvassing  the  moral  reac- 
tions of  a  well-organized  group  engaged  in 
some  specific  game.  For  in  merely  discussing 
the  play  attitude,  which  is  applicable  to  every 
interest  of  life,  there  is  the  danger  of  so  subli- 
mating the  value  of  play  that  its  importance, 
while  readily  granted,  will  not  affect  pastoral 
or  educational  methods.  This  mistake  is  only 
comparable  with  another  which  dwells  upon 
the  religious  life  of  the  boy  as  dependent 
upon  the  use  of  some  inherent  religious  faculty 
that  is  quite  detached  from  the  normal  physi- 
cal and  mental  processes.  Such  an  attitude 
favors  an  easy  escape  from  both  the  labor 
of  character  building  and  the  obligations  of 
environmental  salvation.  Recognizing  these 
dangers  and  remembering  that  morality  and 
religion  are  most  valid  when  acquired  and  in- 
corporated in  actual  conduct,  one  may  analyze 
a  standard  game  in  search  of  its  ethical  worth. 
Baseball,  our  most  popular  and  distinctively 
national  game,  constitutes  a  fair  field  for  this 


The  Ethical  Value  of  Organized  Play    73 

inquiry.  In  order  to  evaluate  this  form  of 
play  as  an  agency  in  moral  training  it  is  neces- 
sary to  presume  that  one  has  a  company  of 
nine  or  more  boys  grouped  together  on  the 
basis  of  loyalty  to  a  common  neighborhood, 
school,  club,  church,  or  the  like.  They  elect 
a  manager  who  acts  for  the  team  in  arranging 
a  schedule  of  games  with  their  various  rivals 
and  who  serves  in  general  as  their  business 
agent;  also  a  captain,  usually  chosen  because 
of  his  ability  to  play  the  game  and  his  quality 
of  natural  leadership.  He  directs  his  players 
in  their  contests  and  in  case  of  dispute  speaks 
for  his  team. 

The  boys  should  also  have  in  every  case  a 
trainer  older  than  themselves,  a  player  of  well- 
known  ability  and  exemplary  character.  It 
is  usually  through  neglect  of  supervision  of  this 
sort  that  the  ethical  value  of  baseball  for  boys 
of  from  twelve  to  fifteen  years  of  age  is  for- 
feited. Without  the  trainer  to  direct  their 
practice  games,  and  as  a  recognized  expert  to 
try  out  the  players  for  the  various  positions, 
the  possibilities  of  forming  a  team  are  few  and 
those  of  unjust  and  harmful  conduct  many. 

If  at  the  outset,  the  group,  coming  together 
in  park  or  vacant  lot,  cannot  speedily  agree 
upon  a  modus  operandi,  their  energy  is  turned 


74  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

into  profane  disputing  about  the  chief  positions, 
and  usually  a  game  cannot  be  organized,  or, 
if  it  is,  lack  of  agreement  as  to  put-outs,  runs, 
fouls,  and  debatable  points  soon  ruins  the 
attempt,  with  little  left  to  most  of  the  boys 
except  resentment  of  the  might-makes-right 
policy.  On  the  other  hand,  whether  one  has 
in  mind  a  team  or  a  chance  group  of  players, 
the  presence  of  a  capable  adult  as  an  immediate 
and  final  court  of  appeal  guarantees  fair  play 
for  all,  prevents  personal  animosities,  and 
inspires  each  one  to  do  his  best  in  the  presence 
of  a  competent  judge. 

Wherever  the  team  with  proper  supervision 
is  a  possibility  the  moral  value  of  the  game 
will  be  at  its  maximum.  Uniforms  are  not 
to  be  despised.  Loyalty  to  the  school  repre- 
sented is  but  boyhood's  form  of  what  in  later 
life  becomes  ability  to  espouse  a  cause  and  to 
assume  a  degree  of  social  responsibility  in 
keeping  with  that  attitude. 

Because  of  this  loyalty  the  boy  who  expected 
to  play  in  the  prominent  position  of  pitcher 
takes  his  less  conspicuous  place  in  right  field, 
if  by  fair  trials  under  the  trainer  another  boy 
has  demonstrated  his  superior  fitness  to  fill 
the  much-coveted  position.  For  the  .credit 
of  the  community  or  school  which  he  has  the 


The  Ethical  Value  of  Organized  Play    75 

honor  to  represent,  the  match  game  must  be 
won;  hence  he  surrenders  his  personal  glory 
to  the  common  good.  He  does  more.  Under 
the  excitement  of  the  contest  and  with  the 
consequent  strengthening  of  the  team  spirit, 
he  encourages  the  very  boy,  who  would  other- 
wise have  been  only  his  personal  rival,  to  do 
his  level  best,  forgetting  utterly  any  mean 
individual  comparisons  and  all  anti-social  self- 
consciousness,  in  what  he  has  enthusiastically 
accepted  as  the  greater  common  good. 

He  goes  to  bat  at  a  critical  juncture  in  the 
game.  The  score  is  close.  He  as  much  as 
anyone  would  like  to  have  runs  to  his  credit. 
But  for  the  sake  of  the  team  his  chief  concern 
must  be  to  advance  the  base  runner.  So 
he  plays  carefully  rather  than  spectacularly, 
and  makes  a  bunt  or  a  sacrifice  hit,  with  the 
practical  certainty  that  he  will  be  put  out  at 
first  base,  but  with  a  good  probability  that  he 
will  thus  have  advanced  his  fellow  one  base  and 
so  have  contributed  to  the  team's  success. 

The  religious  value  of  the  principle  here 
involved  receives  no  little  attention  in  sermon 
and  Sunday-school  class,  but  how  tame  and 
formal  is  its  verbal  presentation  as  compared 
with  its  registration  in  the  very  will  and 
muscles  of  a  boy  at  play!  Wherever  a  state 


76  The  Minister  and  Ihe  Boy 

has  become  great  or  a  cause  victorious,  where- 
ever  a  hero — a  Socrates  or  a  Christ — has 
appeared  among  men,  there  has  been  the 
willingness,  when  necessary,  to  make  the 
"sacrifice  hit."  The  loyalty  that  has  held 
itself  ready  so  to  serve  on  moral  demand 
has  to  its  credit  all  the  higher  attainments  of 
humanity. 

In  the  great  American  experiment  of  democ- 
racy, where  the  welfare  of  the  people  is  so  often 
bartered  for  gold,  and  where  public  office  is 
frequently  prostituted  to  private  gain,  there  is 
a  proportionately  great  need  of  teaching  in 
every  possible  way  this  fundamental  virtue 
of  loyalty.  Our  future  will  be  secure  only  in 
the  degree  in  which  intelligent  and  strong 
men  are  devoted  to  the  welfare  of  city  and 
state  after  the  fashion  of  the  boy  to  his  team. 
It  is  because  war,  with  all  its  horrors,  has 
stimulated  and  exhibited  this  virtue  that  its 
glory  persists  far  into  our  industrial  age;  and 
the  hope  of  a  lofty  patriotism,  that  shall  be 
equal  to  the  enervating  influences  of  peace, 
lies  in  an  educated  and  self-denying  type  of 
loyalty. 

The  use  of  this  loyalty  in  the  reformation  of 
boy  criminals  has  been  remarkably  demon- 
strated in  the  well-known  work  of  Judge  Ben 


The  Ethical  Value  of  Organized  Play    77 

B.    Lindsey,    of    Denver.     In    a    particularly 
difficult  case  he  says : 

I  decided  to  put  my  influence  over  him  to  the 
test.  I  told  him  of  the  fight  I  was  making  for  him, 
showed  him  how  I  had  been  spending  all  my  spare 
time  "trying  to  straighten  things  out"  for  him  and 
Heimel,  and  warned  him  that  the  police  did  not  believe 
I  could  succeed.  "Now,  Lee,"  I  said,  "you  can  run 
away  if  you  want  to,  and  prove  me  a  liar  to  the  cops. 
But  I  want  to  help  you  and  I  want  you  to  stand  by 
me.  I  want  you  to  trust  me,  and  I  want  you  to  go 
back  to  the  jail  there,  and  let  me  do  the  best  I  can." 
He  went,  and  he  went  alone — unguarded. 

Here  is  a  striking  example  of  the  team  work  of 
two  with  the  play  upon  loyalty  and  the  spirit 
of  contest. 

Another  lesson  about  boys  I  learned  from  little 
"Mickey"  when  I  was  investigating  his  charge  that 
the  jailer  had  beaten  him.  The  jailer  said:  "Some 
o'  those  kids  broke  a  window  in  there,  and  when  I 
asked  Mickey  who  it  was,  he  said  he  didn't  know.  Of 
course  he  knew.  D'yu  think  I'm  goin'  to  have  kids 
lie  to  me?"  A  police  commissioner  who  was  present 
turned  to  Mickey.  "Mickey,"  he  said,  "why  did  you 
lie  ?  "  Mickey  faced  us  in  his  rags.  "  Say,"  he  asked, 
"Do  yoh  t'ink  a  fullah  ought  to  snitch  on  a  kid?" 
And  the  way  he  asked  made  me  ashamed  of  myself. 
Here  was  a  quality  of  loyalty  that  we  should  be  foster- 
ng  in  him  instead  of  trying  to  crush  out  of  him.  It  was 
the  beginning  in  the  boy  of  that  feeling  of  responsibility 
to  his  fellows  on  which  society  is  founded.  There- 


78  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

after,  no  child  brought  before  our  court  was  ever  urged 
to  turn  state's  evidence  against  his  partners  in  crime — 
much  less  rewarded  for  doing  so  or  punished  for  refus- 
ing. Each  was  encouraged  to  " snitch"  on  himself, 
and  himself  only. 

Another  interview  with  a  boy  under  sentence 
to  the  industrial  school  emphasizes  the  same 
point: 

"I  can  help  you,  Harry,"  I  said.  "But  you've 
got  to  carry  yourself.  If  I  let  boys  go  when  they  do 
bad  things,  I'll  lose  my  job.  The  people'll  get  another 
judge  in  my  place  to  punish  boys,  if  7  don't  do  it.  I 
can't  let  you  go."  We  went  over  it  and  over  it;  and 
at  last  I  thought  I  had  him  feeling  more  resigned  and 
cheerful,  and  I  got  up  to  leave  him.  But  when  I 
turned  to  the  door  he  fell  on  his  knees  before  me 
and,  stretching  out  his  little  arms  to  me,  his  face  dis- 
torted with  tears,  he  cried:  "Judge!  Judge!  If  you  let 
me  go,  /'//  never  get  you  into  trouble  again!" 

I  had  him!  It  was  the  voice  of  loyalty 

This  time  he  "stuck."  "Judge,"  the  mother  told  me 
long  afterward,  "I  asked  Harry  the  other  day,  how  it 
was  he  was  so  good  for  you,  when  he  wouldn't  do  it  for 
me  or  the  policeman.  And  he  says:  'Well,  Maw,  you 
see  if  I  gets  bad  ag'in  the  Judge  he'll  lose  his  job.  I've 
got  to  stay  with  him,  'cause  he  stayed  with  me.'" 
I  have  used  that  appeal  to  loyalty  hundreds  of  times 
since  in  our  work  with  the  boys,  and  it  is  almost 
infallibly  successful. 

In  eight  years,  out  of  507  cases  of  boys  put 
upon  their  honor  to  take  themselves  from 


The  Ethical  Value  of  Organized  Play    79 

Denver  to  the  Industrial  School  at  Golden, 
to  which  the  court  had  sentenced  them,  Judge 
Lindsey  had  but  five  failures.  In  view  of 
such  facts,  who  will  think  for  a  moment  that 
we  have  so  much  as  begun  to  turn  the  latent 
loyalty  of  boyhood  to  its  highest  ethical  use  ? 

No  doubt  much  can  be  said  against  football, 
which  ranks  second  in  popularity  among 
American  athletic  games.  For  some  years  the 
elements  of  hazard  and  rough  treatment  have 
been  unhappily  too  prominent,  so  that  the 
suspicion  is  warranted  that  players  have 
been  sacrificed  to  the  bloodthirsty  demands 
of  the  vast  throng  of  spectators.  The  tension 
of  playing  in  the  presence  of  thousands  of 
partisan  enthusiasts  shows  itself  in  a  reckless 
disregard  of  physical  injury.  Furthermore, 
for  boys  in  early  adolescence  the  tax  upon  the 
heart  constitutes  a  common  danger  which  is 
often  rendered  more  serious  by  the  untrained 
condition  of  the  players.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
in  the  further  modification  of  the  rules  from 
year  to  year,  the  players  and  their  welfare  will 
be  kept  more  in  mind  and  the  sensation-loving 
public,  whose  gate-fees  have  been  too  big  a 
consideration,  will  be  measurably  overlooked. 

But  with  this  concession,  all  of  the  virtue 
that  attaches  to  baseball  will  be  found  in  foot- 


8o  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

ball,  only  in  accentuated  form.  Physical  brav- 
ery is,  of  course,  more  emphasized;  while 
team  loyalty,  with  all  that  it  implies,  is  more 
intense.  The  relation  of  the  members  to 
one  another  in  a  well-organized  team  amounts 
to  an  affection  which  is  never  forgotten.  The 
words  of  cheer  when  the  team  is  hard  pushed 
and  has  to  take  a  " brace";  the  fighting  spirit 
that  plays  the  game  to  a  finish,  no  matter 
what  the  odds;  the  hand  extended  to  help  to 
his  feet  the  man  who  has  just  advanced  the 
ball;  the  pat  on  the  back;  the  impulsive 
embrace;  the  very  tears  shed  in  common 
after  a  lost  game — all  of  this  is  a  social  and 
moral  experience  of  no  small  value.  Basket- 
ball also  offers  a  good  field  for  the  subordination 
of  personal  glory  to  team  success  and,  in  point 
of  intensity,  stands  midway  between  baseball 
and  football  with  the  elimination  of  the  danger- 
ous qualities  of  the  latter. 

Games  of  this  sort  are  also  the  most  effective 
means  of  developing,  through  expression,  the 
boy's  sense  of  justice  or  fair  play.  And  this 
sentiment  will  always  be  found  strong  and 
operative  in  him  unless  it  has  been  overcome 
by  the  passion  to  win  or  by  imitation  of  the 
bad  example  of  certain  debased  athletes, 
popularly  known  as  "  muckers."  Under  proper 


The  Ethical  Value  of  Organized  Play    81 

leadership,  the  boy  soon  learns  that  the  true 
spirit  of  manly  sport  is  the  farthest  removed 
from  that  of  the  footpad  and  the  blackguard. 
Appreciation  of  successful  opponents  and  con- 
sideration for  the  vanquished  can  be  made 
effectually  to  supplant  the  cheap,  blatant  spirit 
which  seeks  to  attribute  one's  defeat  to  trickery 
and  chance  and  uses  one's  victory  as  an  occa- 
sion for  bemeaning  the  vanquished.  The  pres- 
ence of  a  capable  director  of  play  is  sure  to 
eliminate  this  evil  which  has  crept  in  under  the 
sanction  of  vicious  ideals  and  through  gross 
neglect  of  boys'  play  on  the  part  of  adults 
in  general  and  educators  in  particular.  The 
Decalogue  itself  cannot  compete  with  a  properly 
directed  game  in  enforcing  the  fair-play  prin- 
ciple among  boys.  It  is  worth  something  to 
read  about  fair  play,  but  it  is  worth  much  more 
to  practice  it  in  what  is,  for  the  time  being,  a 
primary  and  absorbing  interest. 

A  large  part  of  the  morality  which  is  most 
obviously  desirable  for  human  welfare  consists 
in  bringing  the  body  into  habitual  obedience 
to  the  will.  The  amount  of  individual  suffering 
and  of  loss  and  expense  to  society  due  to  fail- 
ure in  this  struggle  is  nothing  less  than  appall- 
ing. The  victims  of  emotional  hurricanes, 
"brainstorms,"  neurotic  excess,  and  intemper- 


82  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

ate  desire  are  legion.  A  nation  that  is  over- 
fed, under-exercised,  and  notably  neurasthenic 
should  neglect  nothing  that  makes  for  prompt 
and  reliable  self-control.  Lycurgus  said,  "The 
citizens  of  Sparta  must  be  her  walls,"  and  in 
building  up  a  defense  for  the  modern  state 
against  forces  more  disastrous  than  Persian 
armies  we  must  turn  to  the  ancient  device  of 
the  playground  and  athletic  games. 

The  moral  value  of  play  in  this  respect  arises 
from  the  instant  muscular  response  to  volition. 
Delay,  half-hearted  response,  inattention,  pre- 
occupation, whimsicalness,  carelessness,  and 
every  sluggish  performance  of  the  order  of  the 
will,  disqualifies  the  player  so  that  when  we 
take  into  account  the  adolescent  passion  to 
excel,  and  the  fact  that  80  per  cent  of  the 
games  of  this  period  are  characterized  by  intense 
physical  activity,  we  are  forced  to  place  the 
highest  valuation  on  play  as  a  moral  educator; 
for  this  enthronement  of  the  will  over  the  body, 
although  having  to  do  with  affairs  of  no  per- 
manent importance,  has  great  and  abiding 
value  for  every  future  transaction  in  life. 

Indeed,  the  physical  competency  attained 
in  athletic  games  has  its  reaction  upon  every 
mental  condition.  Many  boys  who  are  ham- 
pered by  unreasonable  diffidence,  a  lack  of 


The  Ethical  Value  of  Organized  Play     83 

normal  self-confidence  and  self-assertion,  find 
unexpected  ability  and  positiveness  through 
this  avenue  alone  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
physical  test  and  encounter  of  the  game  serves 
to  bring  a  proper  self-rating  to  the  over- 
confident. 

Dr.  George  J.  Fisher,  international  secretary 
of  the  Physical  Department  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  says,  "An  unfor- 
tunately large  number  of  our  population  haven't 
the  physical  basis  for  being  good."  No  one 
with  even  the  slightest  knowledge  of  sociology 
and  criminology  will  be  disposed  to  deny  such 
a  statement.  One  might  as  well  expect  a  one- 
legged  man  to  win  the  international  Marathon 
as  to  expect  certain  physical  delinquents  to 
"go  right."  Thousands  of  boys  and  girls  sit 
in  our  public  schools  today  who  are  the  unhappy 
candidates  for  this  delinquency,  and  we  are 
monotonously  striving  to  get  something  into 
their  minds,  which  would  largely  take  care  of 
their  own  development,  if  only  we  had  the  wis- 
dom to  address  ourselves  to  their  bodies. 

There  is  indeed  not  only  a  physical  basis  of 
being  good,  but,  what  is  not  less  important,  a 
physical  basis  of  doing  good.  Many  people 
avoid  blame  and  disgrace  who  fail  utterly  in 
making  a  positive  contribution  to  the  welfare 


84  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

of  the  community.  They  do  not  market  their 
mental  goods.  Thousands  of  men  remain  in 
mediocrity,  to  the  great  loss  of  society,  simply 
because  they  have  not  the  requisite  physical 
outfit  to  force  their  good  ideas,  impulses,  and 
visions  into  the  current  of  the  world's  life. 
For  the  most  part  they  lack  the  great  play 
qualities,  "enthusiasm,  spontaneity,  creative 
ability,  and  the  ability  to  co-operate."  When- 
ever we  build  up  a  strong  human  organism  we 
lay  the  physical  foundations  of  efficiency,  and 
one  is  inclined  to  go  farther  and  think  with  Dr. 
Fisher,  that  muscular  energy  itself  is  capable 
of  transformation  into  energy  of  mind  and  will. 
That  is  to  say  that  play  not  only  helps  greatly 
in  building  the  necessary  vehicle,  but  that  it 
creates  a  fund  upon  which  the  owner  may  draw 
for  the  accomplishment  of  every  task. 

There  is  ground  also  for  the  contention  that 
grace  of  physical  development  easily  passes 
over  into  manner  and  mind.  The  proper 
development  of  the  instrument,  the  right 
adjustment  and  co-ordination  of  the  muscular 
outfit  through  which  the  emotions  assemble  and 
diffuse  themselves,  is,  when  other  things  are 
equal,  a  guaranty  of  inner  beauty  and  the 
grace  of  true  gentility.  A  poor  instrument 
is  always  vexatious,  a  good  instrument  is  an 


The  Ethical  Value  of  Organized  Play    85 

abiding  joy.  The  good  body  helps  to  make  the 
gracious  self.  Other  things  being  equal  the 
strong  body  obeys,  but  the  weak  body  rules. 

One  should  not  overlook  the  heartiness  that 
is  engendered  in  games,  the  total  engagement 
of  mind  and  body  that  insures  for  the  future 
the  ability  "to  be  a  whole  man  to  one  thing 
at  a  time."  Much  of  the  moral  confusion 
of  life  arises  from  divided  personality,  and  the 
miserable  application  of  something  less  than 
the  entire  self  to  the  problem  in  hand.  Do 
not  the  great  religious  leaders  of  the  world 
agree  with  the  men  of  practical  efficiency  in 
demonstrating  and  requiring  this  hearty  release 
of  the  total  self  in  the  proposed  line  of  action  ? 
The  demand  of  Jesus,  touching  love  of  God  and 
neighbor,  or  regarding  enlistment  in  His  cause, 
is  a  demand  for  prompt  action  of  the  total 
self.  Possibly  no  other  single  virtue  has  a  more 
varied  field  of  application  than  the  ability  for 
decisive  and  whole-souled  action,  which  is  con- 
stantly cultivated  in  all  physical  training,  and 
especially  in  competitive  athletic  games. 

It  should  be  noted  also  that  the  hearty  release 
of  energy  is,  in  every  good  game,  required  to 
keep  within  the  rules.  This  is  particularly 
true  in  basket-ball,  which  takes  high  rank  as 
an  indoor  game  for  boys.  While  the  game  is 


86  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

intense  and  fatiguing,  anything  like  a  muscular 
rampage  brings  certain  penalty  to  the  player 
and  loss  to  his  team.  So  that,  while  the  boy 
who  does  not  play  "  snappy "  and  hard  cannot 
rank  high,  neither  can  the  boy  who  plays 
"rough-house."  Forcefulness  under  control  is 
the  desideratum. 

Besides  this  there  is  always  the  development 
of  that  good-natured  appreciation  of  every 
hard  task,  that  refinement  of  the  true  sporting 
spirit,  by  which  all  the  serious  work  of  life 
becomes  a  contest  worthy  of  never-ending 
interest  and  buoyant  persistency.  In  the 
midst  of  all  the  sublime  responsibilites  of  his 
remarkable  ministry  we  hear  Phillips  Brooks 
exclaim,  "It's  great  fun  to  be  a  minister." 
An  epoch-making  president  of  the  United  States 
telegraphs  his  colleague  and  successor,  with  all 
the  zest  of  a  boy  at  play,  "We've  beaten  them 
to  a  frazzle";  and  the  greatest  of  all  apostles, 
triumphing  over  bonds  and  imprisonment, 
calls  out  to  his  followers,  "I  have  fought  a  good 
fight."  "It  is  doubtful  if  a  great  man  ever 
accomplished  his  life  work  without  having 
reached  a  play  interest  in  it." 

The  saving  power  of  organized  play,  in  the 
prevention  and  cure  of  that  morbidity  which 
especially  besets  youth,  can  hardly  be  over- 


The  Ethical  Value  of  Organized  Play    87 

estimated.  This  diseased  self-consciousness  is 
intimately  connected  with  nervous  tensions  and 
reflexes  from  sex  conditions  and  not  infrequently 
passes  over  into  sex  abuse  or  excess  of  some 
sort.  So  that  the  diversion  of  strenuous  ath- 
letic games,  and  the  consequent  use  of  energy 
up  to  a  point  just  below  exhaustion,  is  every- 
where recognized  as  an  indispensable  moral 
prophylactic.  Solitariness,  overwrought  nerv- 
ous states,  the  intense  and  suggestive  stimuli 
of  city  life,  call  for  a  large  measure  of  this 
wholesome  treatment  for  the  preservation  of 
the  moral  integrity  of  the  boy,  his  proper  self- 
respect,  and  those  ideals  of  physical  develop- 
ment which  will  surely  make  all  forms  of  self- 
abuse  or  indulgence  far  less  likely. 

The  normal  exhilaration  of  athletic  games, 
which  cannot  be  described  to  those  without 
experience,  is  often  what  is  blindly  and  injuri- 
ously sought  by  the  young  cigarette  smoker  in 
the  realm  of  nervous  excitation  without  the 
proper  motor  accompaniments.  Possibly  if  we 
had  not  so  restricted  our  school-yards  and 
overlooked  the  necessity  for  a  physical  trainer 
and  organized  play,  we  would  not  have  schools 
in  which  as  many  as  80  per  cent  of  the  boys 
between  ten  and  seventeen  years  of  age  are 
addicted  to  cigarettes.  In  trying  to  fool 


88  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

Nature  in  this  way  the  boy  pays  a  heavy 
penalty  in  the  loss  of  that  very  decisiveness, 
force,  and  ability  in  mind  and  body  which 
properly  accompany  athletic  recreation.  The 
increased  circulation  and  oxidization  of  the 
blood  is  in  itself  a  great  tonic  and  when  one 
reflects  that,  with  a  running  pace  of  six  miles 
an  hour  the  inhalation  of  air  increases  from 
four  hundred  and  eighty  cubic  inches  per 
minute  to  three  thousand  three  hundred  and 
sixty  cubic  inches,  the  tonic  effect  of  the 
athletic  game  will  be  better  appreciated.  This 
increased  use  of  oxygen  means  healthy  stimula- 
tion, growth  of  lung  capacity,  and  exaltation 
of  spirit  without  enervation.  "  Health  comes 
in  through  the  muscles  but  flies  out  through  the 
nerves." 

It  was  well  thought  and  arranged  by  the  ancients 
[says  Martin  Luther]  that  young  people  should  exer- 
cise themselves  and  have  something  creditable  and  use- 
ful to  do.  Therefore  I  like  these  two  exercises  and 
amusements  best,  namely,  music  and  chivalrous  games 
or  bodily  exercises,  as  fencing,  wrestling,  running, 

leaping  and  others With  such  bodily  exercises 

one  does  not  fall  into  carousing,  gambling,  and  hard 
drinking,  and  other  kinds  of  lawlessness,  as  are  unfor- 
tunately seen  now  in  the  towns  and  at  the  courts. 
This  evil  comes  to  pass  if  such  honest  exercises  and 
chivalrous  games  are  despised  and  neglected. 


The  Ethical  Value  of  Organized  Play    89 

The  feeling  of  harmony  and  bien-etre  resulting 
from  play  is,  in  itself,  a  rare  form  of  wealth  for 
the  individual  and  a  blessing  to  all  with  whom 
one  has  to  do.  Every  social  contact  tends  to 
become  wholesome.  And  who  will  say  that 
the  virtue  of  cheerfulness  is  not  one  of  the  most 
delightful  and  welcome  forms  of  philanthropy  ? 
Play,  rightly  directed,  always  has  this  result. 

Possibly  no  social  work  in  America  is  more 
sanely  constructive  than  that  of  the  playground 
movement.  In  the  few  years  of  its  existence  it 
has  made  ample  proof  of  its  worth  in  humane 
and  beneficent  results;  and  our  city  govern- 
ments are  hastening  to  acknowledge — what  has 
been  too  long  ignored — the  right  of  every  child 
to  play.  It  is  only  to  be  regretted  that  the 
play  movement  has  not  centered  about  our 
public  schools  for  it  constitutes  a  legitimate 
part  of  education.  The  survivors  who  reach 
high  school  and  college  receive  relatively  a  good 
deal  of  attention  in  physical  training  and 
organized  play,  but  the  little  fellows  of  the  ele- 
mentary grades  who  have  curvatures,  retarda- 
tion, adenoids,  and  small  defects  which  cause 
loss  of  grade,  truancy,  and  delinquency  receive 
as  yet  very  meager  attention. 

In  dearth  of  opportunity  and  in  cruel  over- 
sight of  the  normal  play-needs  of  boyhood, 


go  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

there  probably  has  never  been  anything  equal 
to  our  modern  American  city.  But  the  cost 
of  industrial  usurpation  in  restricting  the  time 
and  area  of  play  is  beginning  to  be  realized; 
and  the  relation  of  the  play-time  and  of  the 
playground  to  health,  happiness,  morality,  and 
later  to  industrial  efficiency,  begins  to  dawn 
upon  our  civic  leaders.  If  "recreation  is 
stronger  than  vice,"  it  becomes  the  duty  of 
religious  and  educational  institutions  to  con- 
tribute directly  and  indirectly  to  normal 
recreative  needs. 

But  what  can  the  minister  do?  He  can 
help  educate  the  church  out  of  a  negative  or 
indifferent  attitude  toward  the  absorbing  play- 
interests  of  childhood  and  youth.  He  can 
publicly  indorse  and  encourage  movements  to 
provide  for  this  interest  of  young  life  and  may 
often  co-operate  in  the  organization  and  man- 
agement of  such  movements.  Every  church 
should  strive  through  intelligent  representa- 
tives to  impart  religious  value  and  power  to 
such  work  and  should  receive  through  the  same 
channels  first-hand  information  of  this  form  of 
constructive  and  preventive  philanthropy.  He 
can  partly  meet  the  demand  through  clubs 
and  societies  organized  in  connection  with  his 
own  church.  He  can  plead  for  a  real  and  longer 


The  Ethical  Value  of  Organized  Play    91 

childhood  in  behalf  of  Christ's  little  ones  who 
are  often  sacrificed  through  commercial  greed, 
un-Christian  business  ambition,  educational 
blindness,  and  ignorance.  He  can  preach  a 
gospel  that  does  not  set  the  body  over  against 
the  soul,  science  over  against  the  Bible,  and  the 
church  over  against  normal  life;  but  embraces 
every  child  of  man  in  an  imperial  redemption 
which  is  environmental  and  social  as  well  as 
individual,  physical  as  well  as  spiritual.  In 
short,  he  can  study  and  serve  his  community, 
not  as  one  who  must  keep  an  organization  alive 
at  whatever  cost,  but  as  one  who  must  inspire 
and  lead  others  to  obey  the  Master  whose 
only  reply  to  our  repeated  protestations  of 
love  is,  "Feed  my  lambs." 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  BOY'S  CHOICE  OF  A  VOCATION1 

It  is  practically  impossible  to  overemphasize 
the  importance  of  the  boy's  vocational  choice. 
Next  to  his  attitude  toward  his  Maker  and  his 
subsequent  choice  of  a  life  partner  this  decision 
controls  his  worth  and  destiny.  For  it  is  not 
to  be  supposed  that  play  with  all  its  virtue,  its 
flourish  and  exercise  of  nascent  powers,  and  its 
happy  emancipation  into  broader  and  richer  liv- 
ing can  adequately  motivate  and  permanently 
ennoble  the  energies  of  youth.  Until  some 
vocational  interest  dawns,  education  is  received 
rather  than  sought  and  will-power  is  latent  or 
but  intermittently  exercised.  Play  has  a  great 
orbit,  but  every  true  parent  and  educator  seeks 
to  know  the  axis  of  a  given  life. 

For  some  boys  presumably  of  high-school 
age  and  over,  this  problem  becomes  real  and 
engrossing,  but  for  the  vast  majority  there  is 
little  intelligent  choice,  no  wise  counsel,  no 
conscious  fronting  of  the  profoundly  religious 
question  of  how  to  invest  one's  life.  The 

1  Books  recommended:  Frank  Parsons,  Choosing  a  Vocation, 
Houghton  Mifflin  Co.;  Meyer  Bloomfield,  The  Vocational  Guid- 
ance of  Youth,  Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

92 


The  Boy's  Choice  of  a  Vocation        93 

children  of  ease  graduate  but  slowly,  if  at  all, 
from  the  "  good-time "  ideal,  while  the  children 
of  want  are  ordinarily  without  option  in  the 
choice  of  work.  But  for  all  who,  being  per- 
mitted and  helped,  both  seek  and  find  their 
proper  places  in  the  ranks  of  labor,  life  becomes 
constructively  social  and  therefore  self-respect- 
ing. To  be  able  to  do  some  bit  of  the  world's 
work  well  and  to  dedicate  one's  self  to  the  task 
is  the  individual  right  of  every  normal  youth 
and  the  sure  pledge  of  social  solvency.  Ideally 
an  art  interest  in  work  for  its  own  sake  should 
cover  the  whole  field  of  human  labor,  and  in 
proportion  as  each  person  finds  a  task  suited 
to  his  natural  ability  and  is  well  trained  for 
that  task  does  he  lift  himself  from  the  grade 
of  a  menial  or  a  pauper  and  enter  into  conscious 
and  worthy  citizenship. 

Here  then,  as  in  the  case  of  the  mating 
instinct,  the  vocational  quest  rightly  handled 
forces  the  ego  by  its  very  inclination  and  suc- 
cess into  the  altruism  of  a  social  order.  For  it 
is  the  misfits,  the  vocationally  dormant,  the 
defeated,  and  those  who,  however  successful, 
have  not  considered  such  choice  as  an  ethical 
concern  of  religion  that  make  up  the  anti-social 
classes  of  the  present  time. 

Hence  this  problem  of  vocational  guidance 


94  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

which  is  so  agitating  the  educational  world 
comes  home  to  the  minister  in  his  work  with 
youth.  It  may  be  that  he  shall  find  new  and 
practical  use  for  the  maligned  doctrine  of 
election  and  that  he  shall  place  under  intelli- 
gent and  heavenly  commission  the  ideals  and 
hopes  of  later  adolescence.  At  any  rate  where 
the  life  career  hinges,  there  the  religious  expert 
should  be  on  hand.  For  what  profit  is  there  in 
society's  vast  investment  hi  early  and  com- 
pulsory education  if  at  the  crucial  time  of  ini- 
tial experiment  hi  the  world's  work  there  be 
neither  high  resolve  nor  intelligent  direction  nor 
sympathetic  coaching  into  efficiency  ? 

But  the  importance  of  vocational  choice  does 
not  turn  upon  the  doubtful  supposition  that 
there  is  one  and  only  one  suitable  task  for  a 
given  youth.  Probably  there  are  groups  or 
families  of  activities  within  which  the  con- 
structive endeavor  may  have  happy  and  pro- 
gressive expression.  Nor,  from  the  minister's 
point  of  view,  is  the  economic  aspect  of  the 
problem  paramount.  It  is  true  that  an  invest- 
ment of  $50,000  worth  of  working  ability  de- 
serves study  and  wise  placing  and  it  is  true 
that  the  sanction  of  public  education  is  to 
return  to  the  state  a  socially  solvent  citizen 
who  will  contribute  to  the  common  welfare 


The  Boy's  Choice  of  a  Vocation         95 

and  will  more  than  pay  his  way;  but  the 
immediately  religious  importance  of  this  com- 
manding interest  consists  in  the  honest  and 
voluntary  request  for  counsel  on  the  part  of 
the  youth  himself. 

Fortunately  in  the  very  midst  of  a  reticent 
and  often  skeptical  period  there  comes,  through 
the  awakened  vocational  interest,  an  inlet 
into  the  soul  of  youth.  No  religious  inquisitor 
or  evangelistic  brigand  could  have  forced  an 
entrance,  but  lo,  all  at  once  the  doors  are 
opened  from  within  and  examination  is  invited. 
It  is  invited  because  the  boy  wishes  to  know 
what  manner  of  person  he  is  and  for  what 
pursuit  he  is  or  may  be  fitted.  When  once  this 
issue  is  on  and  one  is  honored  as  counselor 
and  friend,  the  moral  honesty  and  eagerness 
of  youth,  the  thoroughgoing  confession  on  all 
the  personal  and  moral  phases  of  the  problem 
in  hand  are  enough  to  move  and  humble  the 
heart  of  any  pastor.  Such  conference  solem- 
nizes and  reassures  the  worker  with  boys,  while 
to  have  spent  no  time  as  an  invited  and  reverent 
guest  within  this  sacred  precinct  is  to  fail  of  a 
priesthood  that  is  profoundly  beautiful. 

Several  experiences  with  both  individuals 
and  groups  are  fresh  in  mind  at  this  writing. 
On  one  occasion  a  guild  of  working  boys  in  later 


96  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

adolescence  were  living  together  in  a  church 
fraternity  house,  and  it  was  their  custom  on  one 
evening  of  each  week  to  have  some  prominent 
man  as  guest  at  dinner  and  to  hear  an  informal 
address  from  him  after  the  meal.  It  chanced 
that  on  the  list  of  guests  there  was,  in  addition 
to  the  mayor  of  their  city  and  a  well-known 
bishop  of  the  Episcopal  church,  the  manager 
of  one  of  the  greatest  automobile  factories  in 
America.  On  the  occasion  on  which  this  cap- 
tain of  industry  spoke,  he  told  in  simple  fashion 
his  own  experience  in  search  of  a  vocation. 

It  was  of  a  kind  very  common  in  our  country : 
early  privation,  put  to  work  at  thirteen,  an 
attempt  to  keep  him  in  an  office  when  he  longed 
to  have  hold  of  the  tools  in  the  shop.  In  time 
his  request  was  granted.  While  he  worked  he 
observed  and  studied  the  organization  of  the 
shop  and  the  progression  of  the  raw  material 
to  the  finished  product.  Having  mastered  the 
method  he  left  this  shop  and  hired  in  another, 
and  then  in  due  time  in  still  another  shop, 
much  to  the  disgust  of  his  friends.  But  in 
reply  to  their  warning  that  "a  rolling  stone 
gathers  no  moss"  he  said  that  that  was  not  his 
aim.  As  a  result  of  faithfully  following  his 
bent  he  was  ready  to  respond  to  the  great 
demand  for  men  to  organize  and  run  bicycle 


The  Boy's  Choice  of  a  Vocation         97 

factories,  and  when  that  demand  was  followed 
by  the  much  greater  need  of  doing  a  similar 
work  in  the  manufacture  of  automobiles  he  was 
chosen  for  the  very  responsible  position  which 
he  now  holds. 

There  was,  to  be  sure,  nothing  distinctly 
spiritual  in  his  story,  but  after  he  had  finished 
the  young  men  kept  him  for  two  hours  answer- 
ing their  questions  and  there  was  there  revealed 
to  the  pastor  more  of  their  fine  hopes  and  pur- 
poses and  possibilities — their  deep-buried  yet 
vital  dreams — than  he  had  ever  heard  unfolded 
in  any  religious  meeting.  Many  of  these 
youths  were  taken  in  hand  in  a  personal  way 
and  are  now  "making  good."  Their  sub- 
sequent use  of  leisure,  their  patronage  of  even- 
ing schools,  Y.M.C.A.  courses,  and  many 
other  helps  to  their  ambitions  testified  to  the 
depth  and  tenacity  of  good  purposes  which 
were  timidly  voiced  but  heroically  executed. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  writer  has  knowledge  of 
many  cases  of  delinquency  in  which  apparently 
the  deciding  cause  was  the  vocational  misfit 
foisted  upon  the  young  would-be  laborer  in 
the  trying  years  between  fourteen  and  sixteen. 

There  comes  to  mind  the  instance  of  a  lad 
of  seventeen  found  in  the  Cook  County  jail. 
He  had  left  his  Michigan  home  with  fifty  dollars 


98  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

of  savings  and  had  come  to  Chicago  to  make  his 
fortune.  His  mother's  story,  which  was  secured 
after  he  got  into  trouble,  narrated  how  that 
as  a  boy  he  had  taken  to  pieces  the  sewing- 
machine  and  the  clocks  and,  unlike  many  boys, 
had  put  them  together  again  without  damage. 
Reaching  Chicago  he  hired  in  a  garage  and 
conceived  the  idea  of  building  an  automobile. 
After  the  fashion  of  a  boy  he  became  totally 
absorbed  in  this  project.  His  ingenuity  and 
thrift  and  the  help  of  his  employers  enabled 
him  to  get  well  along  with  his  enterprise.  But 
at  last  he  was  balked  because  of  lack  of  a  par- 
ticular part  which  he  knew  to  be  essential,  but 
as  to  the  nature  of  which  he  was  not  informed. 
Going  along  the  street  one  day  in  profound 
concern  over  this  matter  an  impulse  seized 
him  to  learn  at  once  the  nature  of  the  needed 
part.  He  jumped  into  an  automobile  stand- 
ing by  the  curb,  drove  it  to  the  nearest  alley,  and 
crawled  under  it  to  make  the  necessary  dis- 
connections, when  the  police  caught  him  in  the 
act.  The  case  was  a  clear  one  and  he  was 
thrown  into  jail.  The  mother  in  her  letter  to 
the  Juvenile  Protective  Association  which  was 
working  for  his  release  said  that  now,  since 
he  had  been  so  unfortunate  as  to  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  authorities,  she  wondered 


The  Boy's  Choice  of  a  Vocation         99 

whether  they  might  not  perform  an  opera- 
tion for  his  benefit,  for  she  had  heard  that 
there  was  an  operation  by  which  the  skull 
could  be  opened  and  a  certain  part  of  the 
brain  removed,  and  she  thought  that  possibly 
they  might  do  this  for  her  boy  and  take  out 
that  part  of  his  brain  which  made  him  so 
"wild  about  machinery "! 

Public  education  in  America  is  only  begin- 
ning to  respond  to  the  need  of  intelligently 
connecting  our  educational  product  with  the 
world's  work.  Trade  schools  for  boys  and 
girls,  half-time  schools,  continuation  schools, 
night  schools,  and  in  a  few  cities  vocational 
bureaus  are  at  work,  but  so  are  poverty  and  the 
helpless  ignorance  of  the  hard-pressed  home. 
The  children  who  must  in  tender  years  be 
offered  to  our  rapacious  industries  are  the  very 
children  who  are  without  hope  of  parental 
counsel  and  direction. 

In  New  York  City  42,000  children  between 
fourteen  and  sixteen  years  of  age  take  out 
their  "working  papers"  every  year,  and  out 
of  12,000  to  13,000  taking  out  working  papers 
in  Chicago  annually  about  9,000  are  only 
fourteen  years  of  age  and  1,500  have  not  yet 
reached  the  fifth  grade.  Many  of  these  walk 
the  streets  and  degenerate  while  in  search  of 


ioo  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

work  or  because  of  such  fitful  employment  as 
only  serves  to  balk  the  department  of  com- 
pulsory education,  which  has  the  power  to  insist 
upon  school  attendance  for  children  of  this 
age  if  not  employed. 

It  is  not  that  work  is  uniformly  bad  for  these 
children.  Indeed,  idleness  would  be  worse. 
And  it  is  not  that  all  these  children  are  forced  to 
turn  out  bad.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact  children 
under  sixteen  are  not  generally  wanted  save 
in  positions  of  monotonous  and  unpromising 
employment,  and  their  early  experience,  which 
is  quite  without  reference  to  taste  and  native 
ability,  is  likely  to  turn  them  against  all  work  as 
being  an  imposition  rather  than  an  opportunity. 
In  the  long  run  this  cheap  labor  is  the  most 
expensive  in  the  world,  and  society  cannot 
afford  to  fully  release  children  from  school  con- 
trol and  training  prior  to  sixteen  years  of  age. 
Much  less  can  it  permit  them  at  any  time  to 
approach  the  employment  problem  blindly 
and  unaided.  Nor  should  it  fail  to  reduce  the 
hours  of  labor  for  such  children  as  fall  into 
permanently  unprogressive  toil  and  to  organize 
their  leisure  as  well  as  to  provide  opportunities 
whereby  some  may  extricate  themselves. 

What  is  this  industrial  haste  which  cuts  so 
much  of  our  corn  while  it  is  only  in  tassel, 


The  Boy's  Choice  of  a  Vocation       101 

that  drives  square  pegs  into  round  holes,  that 
harnesses  trotting  stock  to  heavy  drays  and 
draughting  stock  to  gigs,  that  breaks  up  the 
violin  to  kindle  a  fire  quickly,  thoughtless  of 
the  music,  that  takes  telescopes  for  drain  pipes 
and  gets  commerce — but  not  commerce  with 
the  stars  ?  It  is  the  delirium  in  which  strong 
men  seek  the  standard  American  testimonial 
of  genius  and  ability,  namely  the  accumulation 
of  great  wealth;  and  in  this  delirium  they  see 
labor  as  a  commodity  and  childhood  as  a  com- 
mercial factor.  They  do  not  think  of  people 
like  themselves  and  of  children  like  their  own. 
But  the  minister  is  the  very  champion  of 
those  higher  rights,  the  defender  of  idealism, 
and  as  such  the  best  friend  of  an  industrial 
order  which  is  perversely  making  this  expensive 
blunder  and  reaping  the  blight  of  sullen  citizen- 
ship and  cynical  and  heartless  toil.  How  can 
these  thousands  who,  because  of  "blind-alley" 
occupations,  come  to  their  majority  tradeless 
and  often  depleted,  having  no  ability  to  build 
and  own  a  home — how  can  these  who  have  no 
stake  in  the  country  aid  in  making  the  republic 
what  it  ought  to  be?  Partly  they  become  a 
public  care,  expense,  or  nuisance,  and  largely 
they  constitute  the  material  for  bossism  and 
dynamite  for  the  demagogue  if  he  shall  come. 


102  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

The  economic  breakdown,  because  of  vocational 
misfit  and  the  exploitation  of  childhood,  usually 
results  in  a  corresponding  moral  breakdown. 
To  be  doomed  to  inadequacy  is  almost  to  be 
elected  to  crime. 

Now  the  pastor  certainly  cannot  right  all  this 
wrong,  neither  will  he  be  so  brash  as  to  charge 
it  all  up  to  malicious  employers,  ignoring  the 
process  through  which  our  vaunted  individual- 
ism, our  free-field-and-no-favor  policy,  our  doc- 
trine for  the  strong  has  disported  itself.  But 
is  it  not  reasonable  that  the  minister  inform 
himself  of  this  problem  in  all  its  fundamental 
phases  and  that  he  both  follow  and  ardently 
encourage  a  public-school  policy  which  aims 
increasingly  to  fit  the  growing  generation  for 
productive  and  stable  citizenship  ?  Our  schools 
are  fundamentally  religious  if  we  will  have  them 
so  in  terms  of  character  building,  elemental 
self-respect,  social  service,  and  accountability 
to  the  God  of  all. 

The  "godless  schools"  exist  only  in  the  minds 
of  those  who  for  purposes  of  dispute  and  sec- 
tarianism decree  them  so.  Furthermore,  in 
every  effort  toward  vocational  training  and 
sorting,  the  employer  will  be  found  interested 
and  ready  to  help. 

But  to  come  more  closely  to  the  place  of  this 


The  Boy's  Choice  of  a  Vocation       103 

problem  in  church  work  it  must  be  recognized 
that  the  Sunday  schools,  clubs,  and  young 
people's  societies  offer  wider  opportunity  for 
vocational  direction  than  is  now  being  used. 
The  curricula  in  these  institutions  can  be 
greatly  vitalized  and  enlarged  by  the  inclusion 
of  this  very  interest,  and  life  can  be  made  to 
seem  more  broadly,  sanely,  and  specifically 
religious  than  is  now  the  case. 

Suppose  that  to  groups  of  boys  beyond  middle 
adolescence  competent  and  high-minded  repre- 
sentatives of  various  trades  and  professions 
present  in  series  the  reasons  for  their  choice, 
the  possible  good,  individual  and  social,  which 
they  see  in  their  life-work,  the  qualifications 
which  they  deem  necessary,  and  the  obstacles 
to  be  met;  and  suppose  further  that  the  ethical 
code  of  a  trade,  profession,  or  business  is  pre- 
sented for  honest  canvass  by  the  class,  must 
there  not  result  a  stimulus  and  aid  to  vocational 
selection  and  also  a  more  lively  interest  in  the 
study  of  specific  moral  problems?  In  this 
way  teaching  clusters  about  an  inevitable  field 
of  interest,  about  live  and  often  urgent  prob- 
lems, and  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  the  use 
of  all  the  light  which  may  be  adduced  from  the 
Bible  and  religious  experience. 

To  describe  the  method  more  specifically,  the 


104  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

lawyer  presents  his  profession  and  subsequently 
the  class  discusses  the  code  of  the  bar  associa- 
tion; or  the  physician  presents  his  work  and 
then  follows  the  canvass  of  the  ethical  problems 
of  medical  practice,  and  so  of  the  trade-union 
artisan,  the  merchant  or  teacher,  the  minister, 
or  the  captain  of  industry.  All  of  this  is 
diffused  with  religion,  it  has  its  setting  and 
sanction  within  the  church,  it  supplements 
for  a  few,  at  any  rate,  the  present  lack  in  public 
education,  and  it  is  real  and  immediate  rather 
than  theoretical  and  remote. 

Let  this  be  complemented  with  visits  to 
institutions,  offices,  plants,  courts,  and  the 
marts  and  centers  of  commercial,  industrial, 
and  agricultural  life;  and,  best  of  all,  cemented 
in  the  personal  friendship,  practical  interest 
and  sponsorship  of  an  adult  and  wise  counselor 
who  helps  the  boy  both  to  the  place  and  in 
the  place;  and,  within  the  limits  of  the  rather 
small  constituency  of  church  boys  at  least,  there 
is  guaranteed  a  piece  of  religious  work  that  is 
bound  to  tell.  For  surely  every  legitimate 
interest  of  life  is  religious  when  handled  by 
religious  persons,  and  the  right  moral  adjust- 
ment of  the  whole  self  to  the  whole  world, 
with  the  emotion  and  idealism  inhering  in  the 
process,  is  the  task  and  content  of  religion. 


CHAPTER  VII 
TRAINING  FOR  CITIZENSHIP1 

The  altruism  of  America  is  philanthropic 
rather  than  civic  and  in  deliberate  disregard 
of  government,  the  average  citizen  of  the 
United  States  has  no  equal.  However  intelli- 
gent or  capable  he  may  be,  he  is  in  the  main  a 
poor  citizen.  This  habit  of  having  no  care  for 
the  ship  of  state  and  of  seeking  comfort  and 
self-advantage,  regardless  of  her  future,  is 
exactly  the  reverse  of  what  one  would  expect. 
For  by  the  manner  of  her  birth  and  her  natural 
genius  the  republic  would  seem  to  guarantee 
forever  a  high  type  of  efficient  public  service. 

But  the  capable  and  typical  man  of  the 
church,  and  presumptively  the  man  of  con- 
science, studiously  avoids  the  hazards  of 
political  life.  It  is  not  necessary  to  rehearse 
the  well-known  and  deplorable  results  of  this 
policy  whereby  the  best  men  have  generally 
avoided  public  office,  especially  in  municipal 
government.  Intelligence  of  the  ills  of  the 
body  politic  or  of  the  fact  that  it  lies  bruised  and 

1  Books  recommended:  Georg  Kerschensteiner,  Education  for 
Citizenship,  Rand  McNally  &  Co.;  William  R.  George,  The 
Junior  Republic,  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 


io6  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

violated  among  thieves  serves  chiefly  to  divert 
the  disgusted  churchman  to  the  other  side  of 
the  road  as  he  hastens  to  his  destination  of 
personal  gain.  Indeed  it  is  not  an  uncommon 
thing  for  him  to  be  a  past  master  in  circum- 
venting or  debauching  government  and  in  thus 
spreading  the  virus  of  political  cynicism 
throughout  the  mass  of  the  people. 

Such  a  separation  of  church  and  state  is 
hardly  to  be  desired,  and  the  call  to  political 
service  is  quite  as  urgent,  quite  as  moral,  and 
far  more  exacting  than  the  perfectly  just  calls 
to  foreign  mission  support  and  to  the  support 
of  the  great  philanthropies  of  the  day.  Be- 
cause of  the  influx  of  foreign  peoples,  the  un- 
solved race  problem,  tardy  economic  reforms, 
uncertain  justice,  political  corruption,  and 
official  mediocrity,  America  stands  more  in 
need  of  good  citizenship  than  of  generosity, 
more  in  need  of  statesmen  than  of  clergymen. 

No  subsequent  philanthropy  can  atone  for 
misgovernment,  and  furthermore  all  social  in- 
justice, whether  by  positive  act  or  simple 
neglect,  tends  to  take  toll  from  the  defenseless 
classes.  The  more  efficient  extricate  them- 
selves, while  the  ignorant,  the  weak,  the  aged, 
and  chiefly  the  little  children  bear  the  brunt 
of  governmental  folly.  It  is  for  this  reason, 


Training  for  Citizenship  107 

together  with  the  passing  of  materialistic 
standards  of  pomp  and  circumstance  and  the 
growing  insistence  upon  human  values,  that  the 
women  are  demanding  full  citizenship.  And 
this  new  citizenship,  including  both  women  and 
men  enfranchised  upon  the  same  basis,  will  not 
be  without  the  ardor  and  heroism  of  those 
who  in  former  days  bore  arms  for  the  honor 
of  their  native  land.  For  just  behind  the 
ranks  are  the  unprotected  children,  the  new 
generation  whose  opportunity  and  treatment 
constitutes  the  true  measure  of  statesmanship. 

But  here  as  everywhere  the  only  highway 
leading  to  that  better  tomorrow  is  thronged  with 
little  children  upon  whose  training  the  issue 
hangs.  What  do  the  home,  school,  church, 
and  community  tell  them  as  to  citizenship,  and, 
of  more  importance,  what  civic  attitudes  and 
actions  are  evoked  ? 

The  home,  by  picture  and  story  and  cele- 
bration, by  the  observance  of  birthdays, 
national  and  presidential,  by  the  intelligent 
discussion  of  public  interests,  by  respect  for 
constituted  authorities,  by  honest  dealing,  and 
by  a  constant  exercise  of  public  spirit  as  over 
against  a  selfish  and  detached  aim,  may  do 
much  to  mold  the  boy's  early  civic  attitude. 

But  most  homes  will  do  little  of  this,  and 


io8  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

both  home  and  school  fall  short  in  pledging  the 
new  life  to  the  common  good  and  in  guarantee- 
ing to  the  state  her  just  due.  Frequently  the 
home  provides  lavishly  and  at  sacrifice  for  the 
comfort  and  even  luxury  of  the  children  and 
exacts  nothing  in  return.  Mothers  slave  for 
sons  and  neglect,  until  it  is  too  late,  those  just 
returns  of  service  which  make  for  honor  and 
self-respect.  Graft  begins  in  the  home,  and  it 
is  amazing  what  pains  we  take  to  produce 
an  ingrate  and  perforce  a  poor  citizen. 

Similarly,  the  boy  attends  the  "free"  schools. 
Here  is  further  advantage  without  the  thought 
of  service  in  return,  something  for  nothing— 
the  open  end  of  the  public  crib.  But  the  public 
schools  are  not  exactly  free  schools.  Every- 
thing, whether  at  home  or  school,  costs,  and 
someone  pays  the  bills.  The  prospective  citi- 
zen should  be  made  to  realize  this,  and  it  would 
do  him  no  harm  actually  to  compute  the  cost. 
Through  home  and  school,  society  is  making 
an  investment  in  him.  Let  him  estimate  in 
dollars  and  cents  his  indebtedness  for  food 
and  clothing  and  shelter,  travel,  medical  care, 
education  and  recreation,  and  all  the  other 
items  of  expense  which  have  entered  into  his 
care  and  training  for  the  fourteen  or  seventeen 
years  of  his  dependency. 


Training  for  Citizenship  109 

Such  an  exercise,  which  cannot  include  those 
invaluable  offices  of  parental  love  and  personal 
interest,  may  have  a  sobering  effect,  as  will 
also  a  conscious  appreciation  of  the  social 
institutions  and  utilities  which  are  the  gift  of 
former  and  contemporary  generations  of  toilers. 

But  how  can  the  schoolboy  come  into  the 
self-respect  of  partnership  ?  Probably  by  build- 
ing up  the  consciousness  of  "our  school"  and 
by  being  sent  from  home  with  the  idea  of  help- 
ing teacher  and  school  in  every  way  to  accom- 
plish the  most  and  best  for  all  concerned. 
Ordinarily  the  home  supplies  the  child  with  no 
such  suggestion  and  in  some  cases  works  even 
counter  to  the  school  and  against  good  citizen- 
ship. The  teacher  is  added  to  the  ranks  of  the 
child's  natural  enemies,  where  unfortunately 
the  policeman  has  long  since  been  consigned; 
and  the  school? — that  is  something  for  which 
he  carries  no  responsibility.  Actual  experi- 
ment of  the  opposite  kind  has  proved  most 
gratifying,  and  this  immediate  attitude  toward 
his  first  public  institution  sets  the  child's  will 
toward  the  practice  of  good  citizenship  in  the 
years  that  lie  ahead. 

The  curriculum  of  the  elementary  schools  of 
Chicago  makes  a  very  thorough  attempt  to 
train  the  child  in  good  citizenship,  an  attempt 


no  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

beginning  with  the  anniversary  days  of  the 
kindergarten  and  proceeding  throughout  the 
eight  grades.  In  addition  to  history,  civics 
of  the  most  concrete  and  immediate  kind  is  so 
presented  that  the  child  should  be  brought  to 
an  appreciation  of  the  city's  institutions  and 
organized  forces  and  of  the  common  responsi- 
bility for  the  health  and  security  of  all  the 
people.  The  same  policy  is  pursued,  unfortu- 
nately with  diminishing  attention,  throughout 
the  high-school  course,  and  yet  the  superin- 
tendent of  schools  testifies  that  public  educa- 
tion is  failing  to  secure  civic  virtue.  The 
children  have  not  come  into  partnership  with 
the  school  and  other  agencies  of  the  common 
life,  they  have  not  achieved  a  nice  sense  of  the 
rights  of  others,  they  have  not  been  lifted 
to  the  ideal  of  service  as  being  more  noble  than 
that  of  efficiency  alone. 

Of  course  there  are  many  reasons  for  this: 
the  quizzical  temper  of  the  community  at  large, 
the  constant  revelation  of  graft,  the  distorted 
school  discipline  which  makes  tardiness  a  more 
serious  offense  than  lying  or  theft;  the  neglect  to 
organize  athletics  and  play  for  ethical  ends;  the 
criminaPs  code  with  regard  to  examinations — 
a  code  very  prevalent  in  secondary  schools, 
both  public  and  private — that  cheating  is  in 


Training  for  Citizenship  in 

order  if  one  is  not  caught;  the  bitter  and 
damaging  personalities  of  party  politics  and  the 
very  transient  honors  of  American  public 
life;  and,  perhaps  chief  of  all,  the  very  elaborate 
provision  for  every  child  with  the  implication 
that  he  does  the  school  a  favor  to  use  what 
is  provided  rather  than  the  imposition  of  an 
obligation  upon  him  both  to  help  in  securing 
the  efficiency  and  beauty  of  the  school  and  to 
discharge  his  just  debt  to  society  in  the  meas- 
ure of  his  ability  as  boy  and  man. 

Another  productive  cause  of  poor  citizenship 
is  the  general  contempt  in  which  immigrants 
are  held,  and  especially  the  treatment  accorded 
them  by  the  police  and  by  most  of  the  minor 
officials  with  whom  they  come  in  contact. 
This  primitive  disdain  of  "barbarians"  is  com- 
mon among  the  school  children  and  tends  to 
make  the  foreign  children  more  delinquent 
and  anti-social  than  they  would  otherwise  be. 
A  very  recent  case  sums  up  the  situation.  A 
gang  of  five  Polish  boys  "beat  up"  a  messenger 
boy,  apparently  without  provocation.  A  Juve- 
nile Protective  officer  visited  the  home  of  one  of 
these  young  thugs  for  the  purpose  of  talking 
with  the  mother  and  getting  such  information 
as  would  aid  in  keeping  the  boy  from  getting 
into  further  trouble. 


ii2  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

The  mother  was  found  to  be  a  very  intelli- 
gent woman  and  explained  to  the  officer  that 
her  boy  had  been  constantly  angered  and 
practically  spoiled  at  school;  that  it  had  been 
ground  into  him  that  he  was  nothing  but  a 
"Polack,"  and  that  no  good  thing  was  to  be 
expected  of  him.  The  school  boys  had  taken 
a  hand  in  his  education;  and  by  reflecting  in 
their  own  merciless  way  the  uncharitable 
judgment  of  their  elders  had  helped  to  produce 
this  young  pariah. 

If  one  will  but  travel  on  the  street  cars  in  the 
crowded  districts  of  our  great  cities  and  note 
the  churlish  discourtesy  and  sarcastic  contempt 
with  which  "the  foreigners"  are  generally 
treated,  or  will  take  the  pains  to  ascertain  how 
cruelly  they  are  deceived  and  fleeced  at  almost 
every  turn,  one  will  soon  conclude  that  we  are 
making  it  very  hard  for  these  people  and  their 
children  to  become  grateful  and  ardent  citizens 
of  the  republic. 

Looking  to  the  improvement  of  this  con- 
dition, while  vocational  training  promises  some- 
thing by  way  of  an  economic  basis  for  good 
citizenship,  too  much  must  not  be  expected  of  it 
alone.  For  if  vocational  efficiency  be  created 
and  released  in  an  environment  devoid  of 
civic  idealism  it  will  never  pass  beyond  the 


Training  for  Citizenship  113 

grub  stage.  It  will  merely  fatten  a  low  order 
of  life,  and  this  at  the  expense  of  much  that 
would  otherwise  lend  verdure  and  freshness, 
shade,  flower,  and  fruit  to  the  garden  of  our 
common  life.  The  able  man  or  the  rich  man 
is  not  necessarily  a  good  citizen. 

That  the  state,  like  the  home  and  school, 
should  incessantly  give  its  benefactions  without 
binding  youth  to  service  in  return  is  an  egre- 
gious blunder.  There  should  be  some  formal 
entrance  into  full  citizenship,  not  only  for 
those  of  us  who,  coming  from  other  nations, 
must  needs  be  "naturalized,"  but  for  all  whom 
the  years  bring  from  the  fair  land  of  boyhood 
into  the  great  and  sober  responsibilities  of 
citizenship. 

When  a  Greek  youth  took  the  oath  of  citizenship, 
he  stood  in  the  temple  of  Aglauros  overlooking  the 
city  of  Athens  and  the  country  beyond  and  said: 
"I  will  never  disgrace  these  sacred  arms  nor  desert 
my  companions  in  the  ranks.  I  will  fight  for  temples 
and  public  property,  both  alone  and  with  many.  I 
will  transmit  my  fatherland  not  only  not  less  but 
greater  and  better  than  it  was  transmitted  to  me.  I 
will  obey  the  magistrates  who  may  at  any  time  be  in 
power.  I  wiK  observe  Loth  the  existing  laws  and 
those  which  the  people  may  unanimously  hereafter 
make.  And  if  any  person  seek  to  annul  the  laws  or 
set  them  at  naught,  I  will  do  my  best  to  prevent  him 
and  will  defend  them  both  alone  and  with  many.  I 


H4  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

will  honor  the  religion  of  my  fathers,  and  I  call  to  wit- 
ness Aglauros,  Enyalios,  Ares,  Zeus,  Thallo,  Auxo, 
and  Hegemone." 

Now,  the  minister  may  think  that  no  great 
part  of  the  improved  training  for  citizenship 
falls  to  him.  He  may  be  content  to  instil 
motives  of  individual  piety,  but  upon  reflection 
he  must  know  that  on  nearly  every  hand  there 
exist  today  great  and  insuperable  barriers  to 
his  personal  gospel.  Behind  the  walls  which 
imprison  them  are  millions  who  cannot  hear 
his  message  and  those  walls  will  not  go  down 
except  by  the  creation  of  public  sentiment 
which  organizes  itself  and  functions  as  law  and 
government.  The  minister's  exercise  of  citizen- 
ship should  not  be  reserved  for  heaven,  where 
it  will  not  be  needed,  but  should  rather  get 
into  action  here  and  now. 

This  means  a  pulpit  policy  which  recognizes 
the  great  dimensions  of  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
and  seeks  a  moral  alignment  of  church  and 
state  that  will  draw  out  the  religious  energy 
to  vital  and  immediate  issues,  and  will  necessi- 
tate within  the  church  herself  clean-cut  moral 
reactions  to  existing  vital  conditions.  When 
the  pulpit  becomes  sufficiently  intelligent  and 
bold  to  lay  bare  such  issues  the  youth  and  man- 
hood of  the  country  will  not  in  so  large  measure 


IMPORTED    CIVIC  TIMBER 


Training  for  Citizenship  115 

neglect  the  pew.  Wherever  real  issues  are 
drawn  men  and  boys  tend  to  assemble. 

In  the  intricate  social  life  of  today  a  ministry 
devoted  exclusively  to  plucking  a  few  brands 
from  the  burning  is  somewhat  archaic.  The 
individual  soul  in  its  majestic  value  is  not 
discounted,  but  it  cannot  be  disentangled  from 
the  mass  as  easily  as  was  once  the  case,  or  as 
easily  as  was  once  supposed.  It  was  not  so 
necessary  to  preach  civic  righteousness  when 
"the  gospel"  was  deemed  sufficient  so  to  trans- 
form the  individual  that  all  external  limita- 
tions, ungodly  conditions,  and  social  injustices 
would  yield  to  the  regal  ability  of  the  child  of 
God. 

To  recognize  the  environmental  phase  of 
salvation  and  to  undertake  this  broader  task  in 
addition  to  the  "cure  of  souls"  may  be  to 
expose  the  minister  to  the  cross-fire  of  economic 
sharp-shooters  and  a  fusillade  of  sociological 
field  guns.  Besides,  some  of  the  supporters  of 
the  church  will  object  and  many  will  assert  that 
the  minister  cannot  qualify  to  speak  with  first- 
rate  intelligence  and  authority  upon  the  com- 
plex social  problems  of  the  day.  Indeed,  by 
endeavoring  to  utter  a  message  of  immediate 
significance  in  this  field,  he  will  discredit  his 
more  important  mission  as  a  " spiritual7 ' 


n6  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

leader.  Again,  if  he  should  speak  to  the  point 
on  social  issues  no  heed  would  be  paid  to  his 
deliverances,  and  he  has  plenty  to  do  in  routine 
pastoral  work. 

The  strength  of  these  objections  must  be 
granted,  and  more  especially  so  in  the  case  of 
weak  men,  men  of  unripe  judgment,  of  hasty 
and  extravagant  utterance,  and  of  inferior 
training.  For  undoubtedly  present-day  prob- 
lems of  social  welfare  and  such  as  affect  religious 
living  do  lead  back,  not  only  into  economic 
considerations,  but  also  into  questions  of  legis- 
lation and  government. 

But  even  so,  will  the  minister  consent  to  be 
without  voice  or  program  in  the  shaping  of 
social  ethics?  Will  he  follow  meekly  and  at 
a  safe  distance  in  the  wake  of  the  modern 
movement  for  economic  justice  and  humane 
living  conditions?  Will  he  allow  people  to 
think  for  a  moment  that  his  job  is  to  coddle 
a  few  of  the  elect  and  to  solace  a  few  of  the 
victims  of  preventable  hardship  and  injustice  ? 

Suppose  that,  with  the  exception  of  denoun- 
cing the  saloon  and  praising  charity,  he  omits 
from  his  pulpit  policy  the  creation  of  civic  ideals 
and  the  drawing  of  moral  issues  in  behalf  of  the 
higher  life  of  all  the  people,  will  not  the  male 
population  consider  him  rather  too  much 


Training  for  Citizenship  117 

engrossed  with  the  little  comforts,  sentiments, 
and  futilities  of  a  religious  club  ? 

The  entire  precedent  of  the  pulpit,  both  in 
biblical  days  and  since,  is  wholly  against  such 
silence.  If  it  is  not  the  minister's  business  to 
know  the  problems  of  social  ethics,  so  as  to 
speak  confidently  to  the  situation  from  the 
standpoint  of  Jesus,  whose  province  is  it? 
Must  he  dodge  the  greatest  moral  problems  of 
the  day,  all  of  which  are  collective?  Has  he 
not  time  and  training  so  to  master  his  own 
field  that  he  will  be  second  to  none  of  his  hearers 
in  the  possession  of  the  relevant  facts;  and  does 
he  not  presumably  know  the  mind  of  Christ  ? 

It  is  idle  to  say  that  his  hearers  will  pay  no 
heed,  and  it  is  idle  to  think  that  as  a  champion 
of  justice  and  a  better  day  he  may  not  get  a 
scar  or  so.  But  the  man  who  has  the  mind 
of  Christ  toward  the  multitude  and  who  thinks 
as  highly  of  little  children  and  their  rights  as 
did  the  Man  of  Galilee  is  going  to  be  significant 
in  making  states  and  cities  what  they  ought 
to  be;  and  whatever  disturbances  may  arise 
in  the  placid  separatism  of  the  church,  the 
Kingdom  itself  will  go  marching  on.  The 
chief  ingredient  needed  by  the  pulpit  of  today 
in  order  to  inspire  men  and  boys  to  noble 
citizenship  is  courage — moral  courage. 


n8  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

But  the  new  citizenship  is  in  training  for 
peace  rather  than  for  war,  for  world-wide 
justice  rather  than  for  national  aggrandize- 
ment; and  to  this  the  Christian  message  lends 
itself  with  full  force.  The  rehearsal  of  war 
and  strife,  the  superficial  view  of  history  which 
sees  only  the  smoke  of  battles  and  the  monu- 
ments of  military  heroes,  give  place  to  an 
insight  which  traces  the  advancing  welfare  of 
the  common  people.  The  minister  will  inspire 
his  formative  citizens  with  good  portrayals  of 
statesmen,  educators,  inventors,  reformers,  dis- 
coverers, pioneers,  and  philanthropists.  He 
will  charm  them  into  greatness  at  the  very  time 
when  a  boy's  ideals  overtop  the  mountains. 

Conducive  to  the  same  end  will  be  the  rugged 
and  humane  ideals  and  activities  of  the  Boy 
Scouts  under  his  control;  and  all  that  is  well 
done  in  the  boys'  clubs — the  athletics,  debates, 
trials,  councils,  literary  and  historical  pro- 
grams, addresses  by  respected  public  officials, 
visits  to  public  institutions,  the  study  of  social 
conditions,  especially  in  the  young  men's 
classes  of  the  Sunday  school — will  make  for  the 
same  good  citizenship. 

If  the  Men's  Brotherhood  is  of  significance 
in  the  community  it  is  quite  possible  to  bring 
political  candidates  before  it  for  the  statement 


Training  for  Citizenship  119 

of  their  claims  and  of  the  issues  involved  in 
any  given  campaign,  and  boys  of  fifteen  years 
and  over  might  well  be  invited  to  such  meetings. 

Then,  too,  such  activities  for  community 
betterment  as  are  outlined  in  the  closing  chap- 
ter of  this  book  should  be  of  some  benefit, 
since  the  boy  is  to  become  a  good  citizen,  not 
by  hearing  only  but  by  doing;  and  the  great 
success  attending  "Boy-City"  organizations 
should  inspire  the  pastor  to  attempt  by  this 
and  other  means  the  training  of  a  new  citizen- 
ship. 

In  fact,  the  matter  is  of  sufficient  importance 
to  have  a  definite  place  in  the  Sunday-school 
curriculum  and  a  boy  might  far  better  be 
informed  on  the  plan  of  government,  the 
civic  dangers,  and  the  line  of  action  for  a  good 
man  in  his  own  city  than  to  fail  of  that  in  an 
attempt  to  master  the  topography  of  Palestine 
or  to  recite  perfectly  the  succession  of  the 
Israelitish  kings. 

If  the  minister  has  faith  in  a  living  God,  if 
he  believes  that  people  are  not  less  valuable 
now  than  they  were  four  thousand  years  ago, 
if  his  Golden  Age  comprises  the  perfect  will  of 
God  entempled  in  the  whole  creation,  if  he 
believes  that  this  nation  has  some  responsible 
part  in  the  divine  plan  for  the  world,  if  he 


120  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

believes  that  righteousness  is  more  desirable 
than  pity  and  justice  than  philanthropy,  and 
that  the  unrest  of  our  times  is  but  opportunity, 
he  will  in  every  way  gird  his  boys  for  the 
battle  and  deliver  constantly  to  the  state 
trained  recruits  for  the  cause  of  human  welfare 
which  is  ever  the  cause  of  God. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  BOY'S  RELIGIOUS  LIFE1 

Comparative  religion  is  unable  to  make  a 
satisfactory  investigation  of  the  successive 
stages  in  the  religious  life  of  the  individual. 
For  the  purpose  of  religious  education  it  is 
highly  desirable  to  add  to  the  historical  survey 
and  the  ethnological  cross-sections  of  com- 
parative religion  a  longitudinal  section  of  the 
religion  of  the  individual.  This,  however,  is 
impossible  because  the  important  data  at  the 
bottom  of  the  series  are  unattainable.  In  the 
study  of  childhood,  as  in  the  study  of  a  primitive 
race,  the  individual  is  so  securely  hidden  away 
in  the  group  that  the  most  penetrating  scientific 
method  cannot  find  him,  and  the  tendencies 
which  are  to  integrate  into  religious  experience 
are  so  taken  in  hand  by  the  society  which  pro- 
duces and  envelops  the  new  life  that  the  student 
of  religion  must  deal  with  a  social  product  from 
the  outset.  The  isolated  religion  of  an  indi- 
vidual does  not  exist,  although  in  the  more 
mature  stages  of  prophetism  and  philosophy 

1  Books  recommended:  John  L.  Alexander,  Boy  Training 
Y.M.C.A.  Press;  G.  Stanley  Hall,  Youth,  Its  Education,  Regimen 
and  Hygiene,  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 

121 


122  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

pronounced  individual  features  always  assert 
themselves. 

The  potential  individuality  in  every  child 
forbids,  however,  the  assertion  that  he  is  only 
a  mirror  in  which  the  religion  of  his  immediate 
society  and  nothing  more  is  reflected.  There 
is  from  a  very  early  time  an  active  principle 
of  personality,  a  growing  selective  power,  a 
plus  that  comes  out  of  the  unmapped  labora- 
tory of  creation,  that  may  so  arrange,  trans- 
mute, and  enrich  the  commonplace  elements 
of  the  socio-religious  matrix  as  to  amount  to 
genius.  But,  nevertheless,  the  newcomer  can 
scarcely  do  more  than  select  the  given  quarter 
which  from  day  to  day  proves  least  unpleasant, 
while  the  fact  of  being  on  the  great  ship  and  in 
one  cabin  or  another — or  in  the  steerage — has 
been  settled  beforehand. 

Hence  the  religious  life  of  the  boy  depends 
largely  upon  family  and  community  conditions 
which  in  turn  rest  upon  economic  considera- 
tions. Whatever  demoralizes  the  home,  de- 
grades the  community,  and  crushes  out  idealism 
also  damns  the  souls  of  little  children.  It 
requires  no  deep  investigation  of  modern 
society  to  prove  that  this  is  being  done,  and 
the  guilt  of  economic  injustice  and  rapacity  is 
measured  ultimately  in  the  cost  to  the  human 


The  Boy's  Religious  Life  123 

spirit  which  in  every  child  pleads  for  life  and 
opportunity,  and,  alas,  too  often  pleads  in  vain. 

The  pre- adolescent  and  imitative  religious 
life  of  the  boy  is  fairly  communicative,  but  as 
soon  as  the  actual  struggle  of  achieving  a 
personal  religion  sets  in  under  the  pubertal 
stress  the  sphinx  itself  is  not  more  reticent. 
The  normal  boy  is  indisposed  to  talk  about  the 
affairs  of  his  inner  life.  Probably  they  are  too 
chaotic  to  formulate  even  to  himself.  If  he 
is  unspoiled  he  clothes  his  soul  with  a  spiritual 
modesty  which  some  of  his  sentimental  elders 
might  well  cultivate.  If  he  does  break  silence 
it  will  probably  be  in  terms  of  the  religious 
cult  that  has  given  him  nurture.  For  all  of 
these  reasons  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  trace 
with  certainty  the  development  of  his  personal 
religion. 

The  indubitable  and  hopeful  fact  is  that  in 
every  normal  boy  the  potent  germ  of  religion 
is  present.  Usually  in  early  adolescence  it 
bursts  its  casings  and  shoots  into  consciousness, 
powerfully  affecting  the  emotions  and  the  will. 
Certain  stages  of  this  process  will  be  in  the 
nature  of  crisis  according  to  the  strength  of  the 
opposition  encountered  in  the  personal  moral 
struggle,  and  in  opposing  social  conditions. 
Nothing  but  calamity  can  forestall  this  pro- 


124  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

gressive  moral  adjustment  to  the  whole  world. 
To  believe  otherwise  is  to  indict  God  for  the 
purpose  of  covering  our  own  blunders.  In 
proportion  as  society  prevents  or  perverts 
this  moral  outreach  after  God,  it  pollutes  and 
endangers  itself.  The  atmosphere  that  kills 
the  lily  creates  the  stench. 

In  the  passage  of  the  boy's  religious  life  from 
the  imitative  type  to  the  personal  and  energized 
form,  or,  as  he  experiences  conversion,  the  battle 
is  usually  waged  about  some  concrete  moral 
problem.  His  conscience  has  become  sensitive 
with  regard  to  profanity,  lying,  impurity,  or 
some  particular  moral  weakness  or  maladjust- 
ment and  his  struggle  centers  on  that.  Being 
often  defeated  under  the  adolescent  sense- 
pressure  and  confusion,  he  naturally  seeks 
help,  and  help  from  the  highest  source  of  virtue. 
He  has  secreted  somewhere  in  his  heart  ulterior 
ideals  of  service,  but  for  the  time  being  his 
chief  concern  is  very  properly  himself;  for  if 
he  "loses  out"  with  himself  he  knows  that  all 
other  worthy  ambitions  are  annulled. 

But  a  religious  culture  that  keeps  him  in  this 
self-centered  feverish  state  is  pathetically  mor- 
bid and  harmful.  It  short-circuits  the  religious 
life.  This  is  the  chief  criticism  of  the  devotional 
type  of  Christian  culture.  It  seeks  to  prolong 


The  Boy's  Religious  Life  125 

a  crisis  and  often  begets  insincerity  or  disgust. 
The  real  priest  of  boyhood  will  certainly  stand 
near  by  at  this  all-important  time,  but  he  will 
always  manifest  a  refined  respect  for  the  birth- 
chamber  of  the  soul.  In  patient  and  hopeful 
sympathy,  in  friendship  that  is  personal  and  not 
professional,  knowing  that  the  door  of  the  heart 
is  opened  only  from  within,  the  true  minister, 
like  his  Master,  waits.  He  knows,  too,  that  a 
few  words  suffice  in  the  great  decisions  of  life, 
and  that  the  handclasp  of  manly  love  speaks 
volumes.  The  prime  qualification  is  a  friend- 
ship that  invites  and  respects  confidence  and  a 
life  that  is  above  criticism. 

Another  important  aid  in  bringing  the  boy 
over  the  threshold  of  vital  and  purposeful 
religion  is  the  favorable  influence  of  his  group 
or  "gang."  The  disposition  to  move  together 
which  is  so  pronounced  in  every  other  field 
must  not  be  ignored  here.  The  ideal  club 
will  be  bringing  the  boy  toward  the  altar  of 
the  church  and  at  the  right  point  along  the 
way  the  minister  who  is  properly  intimate 
with  each  boy  will  be  assured  in  private  con- 
ference of  the  good  faith  and  earnest  purpose  of 
his  prospective  church  member. 

Before  receiving  boys  into  active  church 
membership  it  is  well  that  they  be  given  a 


126  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

course  of  instruction  in  a  preparatory  class. 
Only  so  can  the  fundamentals  of  religion  and  the 
duties  of  church  membership  be  intelligently 
grasped.  The  value  to  the  boy  is  also  enhanced 
when  the  ceremony  of  induction  is  made  formal 
and  impressive  to  a  degree  that  shall  not  be 
surpassed  in  his  entrance  into  any  other  organi- 
zation. By  all  means  the  boy  should  not  be 
neglected  after  he  has  been  received  into  the 
church.  Mistakes  of  this  sort  are  common 
wherever  undue  importance  attaches  to  the 
conversion  experience,  and  the  numerical  ideal 
of  church  success  prevails.  If  the  task  becomes 
too  great  for  the  pastor  let  him  find  a  respon- 
sible "big  brother "  for  every  boy  received  into 
the  church. 

As  the  critical  or  skeptical  traits  of  youth 
develop  in  later  adolescence  the  intellectual 
formulas  and  supports  of  religion  will  be  over- 
hauled. What  the  boy  has  brought  over  out 
of  the  early  imitative  and  memorizing  period 
of  life  will  probably  come  up  for  review  in  later 
adolescence.  If  his  inherited  theology  corre- 
sponds to  experience  and  verifies  itself  in  the 
light  of  the  scientific  methods  of  school  and 
college  no  great  difficulty  will  be  experienced. 
But  if  it  does  not  square  with  the  youth's  set 
of  verifiable  facts  then  there  is  added  to  his 


The  Boy's  Religious  Life  127 

necessary  moral  struggle  for  self-possession 
and  spiritual  control  the  unnecessary  and 
dangerous  quest  for  a  new  faith,  so  that  he  is 
forced  to  swap  horses  in  midstream  and  when 
the  spring  freshet  is  on. 

Possibly  this  reorganization  involved  in  the 
adolescent  flux  and  reflection  cannot  be  alto- 
gether avoided,  but  with  proper  care  much 
could  be  done  to  lessen  its  dangers  and  to 
preserve  a  substantial  continuity  of  religious 
experience  from  childhood  through  youth  and 
to  the  end  of  life.  It  is  a  help  not  to  have  to  be 
introduced  to  an  altogether  new  God  in  these 
succeeding  stages.  To  preserve  his  identity 
enriches  and  safeguards  the  life. 

The  imagination  and  wonder  instinct  of  the 
child,  his  use  of  "natural  religion,"  his  con- 
firmation in  habits  of  prayer,  reverence,  and 
worship,  his  acquisition  of  choice  religious 
literature  by  memorizing — can  these  interests 
be  properly  cared  for  without  putting  upon 
him  a  theological  yoke  which  will  subsequently 
involve  pain  and  perhaps  apostasy  ? 

It  is  undoubtedly  easier  to  point  out  the 
desirability  of  furnishing  childhood  with  the 
materials  of  a  time-proof  religion  than  to  pro- 
vide such  an  instrument.  And  it  is  less  difficult 
to  criticize  the  indiscriminate  use  of  the  Bible 


128  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

in  instructing  the  young  than  to  set  forth  the 
type  of  education  in  religion  which  will  satisfy 
alike  the  mental  requirements  of  childhood 
and  youth.  What  course  should  be  followed 
with  the  pre-adolescent  boy  in  order  that  the 
youth  may  be  not  less  but  more  religious  ? 

In  offering  any  suggestion  in  this  direction 
it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  natural  religion 
or  the  religion  of  nature  makes  a  strong  appeal 
to  the  child.  He  readily  believes  in  the  pres- 
ence of  God  in  animate  nature  with  all  its 
wonder  and  beauty.  Creatorship  and  the 
expression  of  the  divine  will  in  the  normal 
processes  are  taken  for  granted.  The  orderly 
world  is  to  him  proof  of  mind  and  method; 
and  perhaps  the  first  mistake  in  the  average 
religious  teaching  is  the  departure  from  this 
broad  basis  of  faith  to  what  is  termed  "revealed 
religion"  and  is  at  the  same  time  the  religion 
of  miracle.  The  introduction  of  miracle  as  a 
basis  of  faith  amounts  to  sowing  the  seeds  of 
adolescent  skepticism. 

The  child  should  be  taught  to  deal  with 
Jewish  folk-lore  as  with  that  of  any  other  people. 
While  the  incomparable  religious  value  of  the 
biblical  literature  should  be  used  to  the  full, 
the  Bible  as  a  book  should  not  be  given  artificial 
ranking.  Nor  should  any  belief  contrary  to 


The  Boy's  Religious  Life  129 

his  reason  be  imposed  as  an  obligation.  But 
the  ever-open  possibility  of  things  that  surpass 
present  human  comprehension  should  be  pre- 
served, and  the  sense  of  wonder  which  the 
scientist  may  ever  have  should  be  carefully 
nurtured.  If  the  teacher  violates  the  child's 
right  to  absolute  honesty  here  let  him  not 
bemoan  nor  condemn  the  skepticism  of  later 
years. 

The  child  can  also  believe  in  the  presence  of 
God  in  his  own  moral  discernment.  He  can 
be  taught  to  obey  his  sense  of  "ought "  and  to 
enjoy  thereby,  from  very  early  years,  a  rich 
measure  of  harmony.  Through  such  experi- 
ence he  discovers  to  himself  the  joy  of  being 
at  one  with  God.  He  has  proof  of  the  con- 
structive power  of  righteousness,  and  conversely 
he  learns  the  destructive  power  of  sin.  He 
finds  that  the  constituted  order  is  essentially 
moral  and  that  the  duty  of  all  alike  is  to  con- 
form to  that  fact. 

He  can  easily  comprehend  also  the  struggle 
of  the  better  self  to  rule  over  the  worse  self. 
The  battle  of  the  rational  and  spiritual  to  gain 
supremacy  over  the  instinctive  and  animal- 
istic is  known  to  him.  To  be  master  of  himself 
and  to  exercise  a  control  that  is  more  and 
more  spiritual,  to  get  the  better  of  things  and 


130  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

circumstances,  to  reduce  his  world  to  obedience 
to  his  gradually  enlightened  will — that  is  his 
task.  In  this  he  proves,  under  right  guidance, 
the  supremacy  of  the  spiritual  and  may  be 
encouraged  to  project  it  into  a  hope  of  personal 
immortality. 

Very  early,  too,  he  gets  some  proof  of  the 
fact  of  human  solidarity;  especially  so  if  he  has 
brothers  and  sisters.  The  social  character 
of  good  and  the  anti-social  character  of  bad 
conduct  is  demonstrated  day  in  and  day  out 
in  the  family.  And  enlargement  of  the  con- 
centric circles  that  bound  his  life  only  demon- 
strates over  and  over  again  the  social  nature  of 
goodness.  On  this  basis  sufficient  inspiration 
for  personal  righteousness  and  altruism  is  af- 
forded by  the  world's  need  of  just  these  things. 
Every  normal  child  responds  to  the  appeal  of 
living  to  make  the  world  better.  Children 
always  "want  to  help." 

Apart  from  every  speculative  question  the 
child  accepts  the  ethical  leadership  of  Jesus. 
And  he  should  understand  that  discipleship 
consists  in  conduct  that  conforms  to  His  spirit. 
To  make  the  test  creedal  is  not  only  contrary 
to  the  intensely  pragmatic  character  of  child- 
hood but  inimical  to  the  resistless  spirit  of 
inquiry  and  speculation  which  breaks  out  in 


The  Boy's  Religious  Life  131 

reflective  youth.  Childhood  needs  a  religion 
of  deeds.  If  a  religion  of  dogma  and  detached 
sentiment  is  substituted  the  youth  may  some 
day  awake  to  the  fact  that  he  can  throw  the 
whole  thing  overboard  and  experience  a  relief 
rather  than  a  loss.  If  from  his  earliest  experi- 
ence in  the  home  he  has  lived  under  the  whole- 
some influence  of  applied  rather  than  specula- 
tive Christianity,  he  will  be  spared  much  of  the 
danger  incident  to  theological  reconstruction. 

In  emphasizing  this  point  of  applied  Chris- 
tianity, and  as  illustrating  the  fact  that  the 
boy's  initial  religious  struggle,  which  necessi- 
tates a  quest  for  God,  centers  about  concrete 
temptations,  it  may  be  in  place  to  make 
mention  of  a  problem  which  lies  very  close  to 
personal  religion  and  social  welfare.  On  the 
one  hand  the  very  altruism  which  is  exalted 
and  glorified  in  religion  has  its  physical  basis 
in  the  sex  life,  and  on  the  other  hand  the 
sex  life,  unless  it  be  guarded  by  religious  con- 
trol, ever  threatens  to  devastate  all  the  higher 
values  of  the  soul.  Hence  the  problem  of  the 
boy's  personal  purity  has  profound  religious 
significance. 

As  yet  there  is  little  consensus  of  opinion  as 
to  the  best  way  of  keeping  him  pure.  Parents, 
educators,  and  religious  leaders,  however,  are 


132  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

showing  increased  concern  over  this  difficult 
problem,  and  there  is  good  ground  to  believe 
that  prudery  and  indifference  must  gradually 
give  place  to  frank  and  intelligent  consideration 
of  this  vital  and  difficult  subject. 

It  must  be  granted,  however,  that  it  is  as 
impossible  as  it  is  undesirable  to  keep  the  boy 
ignorant.  His  own  natural  curiosity,  together 
with  his  school  and  street  experience,  are  fatal 
to  such  a  Fool's  Paradise.  Moreover,  the 
general  attitude  of  suppression  and  secrecy 
rather  stimulates  curiosity,  and  often  amounts 
to  the  plain  implication  that  everything  that  has 
to  do  with  the  perpetuation  of  our  species  is  of 
necessity  evil  and  shameful.  This  "conspiracy 
of  silence"  makes  against  true  virtue.  Reli- 
gious instruction,  based  upon  the  confession  of 
the  repentant  David,  "Behold,  I  was  begotten 
in  iniquity  and  in  sin  did  my  mother  conceive 
me,"  has  helped  to  perpetuate  a  sinister  atti- 
tude toward  this  whole  question — an  attitude 
not  without  some  foundation  in  the  moral 
history  of  man. 

It  has  also  been  convenient  and  consistent, 
in  support  of  the  doctrine  of  man's  depravity, 
to  exploit  this  dark  view  so  as  to  make  him 
a  fit  subject  for  redemption.  Somehow,  the 
traditional  "Fall"  and  procreation  have  been 


The  Boy's  Religious  Life  133 

so  associated  in  religious  thinking  that  it  has 
been  practically  impossible  for  the  religious 
mind  to  entertain  any  favorable  consideration 
of  the  physical  conditions  of  human  genesis. 
Very  naturally  that  which  is  under  the  ban, 
being  the  seat  of  human  sin,  the  bond  that 
binds  each  generation  to  fallen  Adamic  nature, 
must  take  its  place  as  surreptitious  and  evil — 
and  never  positively  within  the  sanctioned  and 
ordained  agencies  of  God. 

Does  such  an  attitude  contribute  to  man's 
highest  good  and  to  the  strength  and  scope  of 
religious  control  ?  Is  it  better  to  alienate  and 
outlaw  so  important  a  phase  of  human  existence 
or  to  bring  it  into  intelligent  accord  with  the 
divine  will  ?  Is  it  not  conceivable  that  in  this 
field,  as  in  every  other  that  is  normal  to  human 
life,  there  will  be  a  gain  to  humanity,  and  to 
the  value  of  religion  as  a  helper  of  mankind, 
by  a  frank  attempt  to  bring  the  whole  life  to 
the  dignifying  conception  of  a  reasonable  service 
to  one's  Maker  ? 

Granting  that  such  an  attempt  is  desirable, 
we  come  face  to  face  with  the  necessity  of 
imparting  such  information  as  will  make 
the  boy's  way  of  duty  plain,  and  will  elevate 
the  subject  to  a  place  of  purity  and  religious 
worth.  In  this  process  of  instruction,  which  is 


134  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

nothing  less  than  a  sacred  responsibility,  the 
most  common  fault  of  the  parent,  physician, 
teacher,  and  pastor  is  that  of  delay.  By  the 
time  a  boy  is  eight  years  of  age,  he  should  have 
been  informed  as  to  his  residence  within  and 
his  birth  from  his  mother,  and  this  in  such  a 
way  as  wonderfully  to  deepen  his  love  for  her, 
and  to  beget  in  him  a  respect  for  all  women  to 
the  end  of  his  life. 

It  is  well  that  the  mother  should  first  inform 
him  in  that  spirit  of  utmost  confidence  which 
shall  preclude  his  indiscriminate  talk  with 
other  people  upon  this  subject.  He  should 
know,  too,  that  further  information  will  be  given 
as  he  needs  it,  and  that  he  can  trust  his  parents 
to  be  frank  and  true  with  him  in  this  as  in 
everything  else.  By  all  means  let  the  mother 
tell  the  story  and  not  some  unfortunately 
vicious  or  polluted  companion.  There  are  three 
reasons  at  least  for  informing  him  thus  early 
in  life.  One  is  that  sufficient  curiosity  has 
usually  developed  by  this  time,  another  is  that 
the  first  information  should  come  from  a  pure 
source,  and  a  third  is  that  this  instruction 
should  anticipate  sex  consciousness  and  the 
indecent  language  and  suggestions  of  school 
and  street. 

In  the  same  spirit  will  the  father  impart  to 


The  Boy's  Religious  Life  135 

the  boy  a  little  later  the  fact  of  the  original 
residence  within  himself  of  the  seed  from  which 
the  boy  grew.  By  the  father's  reverent  treat- 
ment of  the  subject  in  the  hour  of  a  boy's 
confidence,  and  in  response  to  his  just  curiosity, 
he  may  hallow  forever  the  boy's  conception  of 
the  marriage  relation  and  emphasize  the  vast 
amount  of  tenderness  and  regard  that  is  due 
every  mother.  For  the  boy  to  feel  sure  that 
he  has  been  told  the  truth  by  his  father,  and 
to  realize  that  his  father  regards  these  facts  in 
an  honorable  and  clean  way,  will  rob  a  thousand 
indecent  stories  of  their  damage. 

It  belongs  to  the  father  to  redeem  the  boy's 
idea  of  human  procreation  from  obscenity,  and, 
under  right  conditions,  to  have  this  process 
regarded  by  his  boy  as  the  most  wonderful 
responsibility  that  falls  to  man.  Sometime 
before  the  boy  has  reached  thirteen,  the  father 
will  have  explained  to  him  the  facts  and  temp- 
tations of  the  pubescent  period.  The  crime  of 
allowing  boys  in  middle  and  later  adolescence  to 
worry  themselves  sick  over  normal  nocturnal 
emissions,  and  often  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
quack,  or  of  the  advocate  of  illicit  intercourse, 
lies  at  the  door  of  the  negligent  father. 

The  enervating  results  of  self -abuse,  the  loss 
of  manliness  and  self-respect,  and  the  possible 


136  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

damage  to  future  offspring  will  have  weight  in 
safeguarding  the  boy  who  has  already  been 
fortified  by  a  high  and  just  conception  of  the 
procreative  power  which  is  to  be  his.  More- 
over, in  the  severe  battle  that  is  waged  for 
self-control,  the  boy  should  be  given  every  aid 
of  proper  hygiene  in  clothing,  sleeping  condi- 
tions, baths,  exercise,  diet,  and  social  inter- 
course. Plenty  of  exercise  but  not  thorough 
exhaustion,  good  athletic  ideals,  a  spare  diet 
at  night,  good  hours,  and  freedom  from  evil 
suggestion,  entertainments,  or  reading;  his 
time  and  attention  healthfully  occupied — these 
precautions,  in  addition  to  enlightenment  as 
above  indicated,  will,  if  there  are  no  conditions 
calling  for  minor  surgery,  go  a  long  way  toward 
preserving  the  boy's  integrity  under  the  tempta- 
tions incident  to  sex  life.  It  is  to  be  feared  that 
many  boys  have  been  wronged  by  the  failure 
of  parents  and  physicians  to  have  some  slight 
operation — either  circumcision  or  its  equivalent 
—performed  in  the  early  days  of  infancy. 

Books  on  the  subject  are  not  best  for  the 
boy.  They  tend  to  make  him  morbid  and 
often  stimulate  the  evil  which  they  seek  to  cure. 
Nor  is  it  wise,  prior  to  the  age  of  fifteen,  to 
open  up  the  loathsome  side  of  the  subject, 
concerning  the  diseases  that  are  the  outcome 


The  Boy's  Religious  Life  137 

of  the  social  evil.  After  that  age,  talks  by  a 
reputable  physician,  pointing  out  the  terrible 
results  to  oneself,  his  wife,  and  his  descendants, 
may  be  fitting  and  helpful.  The  minister 
should  make  frequent  use  of  the  physician  in 
having  him  address  on  different  occasions  the 
fathers  and  the  mothers  of  the  boys.  To  hold 
such  meetings  in  the  church  building  is  an 
altogether  worthy  use  of  the  institution. 

In  cases  where  parent  and  physician  have 
failed  to  do  their  duty,  and  the  pastor  is  on 
proper  terms  of  friendship  with  the  boy,  it 
becomes  his  duty  to  tell  the  boy  plainly  and 
purely  a  few  of  the  important  things  which  he 
ought  to  know  in  order  to  avoid  moral  ship- 
wreck. 

If  credence  is  to  be  given  to  the  startling 
reports  of  immorality  in  high  schools,  based,  as 
is  commonly  claimed,  upon  ignorance,  then  the 
time  has  certainly  come  for  plain  speech,  and 
the  boys  and  girls  should  be  gathered  together 
in  separate  companies  for  instruction  in  sex 
hygiene  and  morality.  Any  education  which 
makes  no  deliberate  attempt  to  conserve 
human  happiness  and  social  welfare  in  this 
important  respect  is  inadequate  and  culpable. 
The  testimony  that  comes  from  juvenile  courts, 
girls'  rescue  homes,  and  boys'  reformatories 


138  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

constitutes  a  grave  indictment  of  society  for 
its  neglect  to  impart  proper  information. 

It  is  part  of  the  minister's  task  to  work  for 
a  better  day  in  this  as  in  every  phase  of  moral 
achievement.    Next  to  the  physician  he  best 
knows  the  mental  and  physical  suffering,  the 
moral  defeat,  and  the  awful  injustice  to  women 
and    children    whom    the    libertine    pollutes 
with  incurable  diseases.     If  he  is  a  true  pastor, 
he  will  strive  to  keep  the  boys  pure  through 
expert  instruction  to  parents,  through  personal 
advice,  through  wholesome  activity  and  recrea- 
tion, through  courses  on  sexual  hygiene  in  the 
public  schools,  through  war  on  indecency  in 
billboard,  dance,  and  theater,  through  absolute 
chastity  of  speech,  and,  in  general,  through 
an  ideal  of  life  and  service  which  shall  lift  the 
boys'  ambitions  out  of  the  low  and  unhealthy 
levels  of  sense  gratification.    To  put  the  spir- 
itual nature  in  control  is  his  high  and  sacred 
opportunity. 

The  importance  of  the  minister's  part  in 
this  struggle  for  the  body  and  soul  of  youth  is 
based  upon  the  fact  that  in  this  critical  en- 
counter there  is  no  aid  that  is  comparable 
with  religion.  Thousands  of  honest,  serious- 
minded  men  frankly  confess  that  in  modern 
conditions  they  see  little  hope  of  this  battle 


The  Boy's  Religious  Life  139 

being  won  without  religion  as  a  sanction  of  right 
conduct.  The  boy  needs  God,  a  God  to  whom 
he  can  pray  in  the  hour  of  temptation.  He 
needs  to  regard  his  life  with  all  its  powers  as 
God's  investment,  which  he  must  not  squander 
or  pervert. 

Here,  as  everywhere  else  in  boy-life,  the 
loyalty  appeal,  which,  as  nothing  else,  will 
keep  him  true  to  mother  and  father,  to  society, 
and  to  God,  stands  the  religious  leader  in  good 
stead.  Upon  honor  he  will  not  violate  the 
confidence  of  his  parents,  and  the  trust  imposed 
in  him  by  his  Maker.  Upon  honor  he  will 
deport  himself  toward  the  opposite  sex  as  he 
would  wish  other  boys  to  regard  his  own  sister; 
and  the  religious  teacher  has  it  within  his  power, 
if  he  will  keep  in  touch  with  boys,  to  create 
and  preserve  an  ideal  of  manly  chivalry  that 
will  effectively  withstand  both  the  insidious 
temptations  of  secret  sin  and  the  bolder 
inducements  of  social  vice. 

This  can  never  be  done  by  the  formal  work 
of  the  pulpit  alone.  Nothing  but  the  influence 
of  a  pure,  strong  man,  mediated  in  part  through 
the  parents  of  the  boy,  supported  by  scientific 
facts,  and  operating  directly  on  the  boy's 
life,  through  the  mighty  medium  of  a  personal 
friendship,  can  perform  this  saving  ministry. 


140  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

If  there  were  nothing  more  to  be  gained  through 
intimate  acquaintance  with  boys  than  thus 
fortifying  them  in  this  one  inevitable  and 
prolonged  struggle,  it  would  warrant  all  the 
energy  and  time  consumed  in  the  minister's 
attempt  to  enter  into  the  hallowed  friendship 
and  frank  admiration  of  the  boys  of  his  parish. 

For  such  reasons  it  is  important  that  the 
implications  of  discipleship  be  made  very  plain 
to  the  boy,  and  this  in  terms  of  specific  conduct 
in  the  home,  at  school,  on  the  playground,  at 
work,  and  in  all  the  usual  social  relations. 
Without  this,  there  may  be  fatal  inconsistencies 
in  the  boy's  conduct,  not  because  he  is  essen- 
tially vicious,  but  because  he  has  been  unable 
to  interpret  high-sounding  sermons  and  biblical 
ideals  in  terms  of  commonplace  duty.  If 
the  evangelical  message  encourages,  condones, 
or  permits  this  divorce,  it  becomes  an  instru- 
ment of  incalculable  harm.  Boys  must  be 
held  to  a  high  and  reasonable  standard  of 
personal  duty  and  group  endeavor. 

From  this  point  of  view  the  weakest  feature 
of  the  church  boys'  club  is  its  tendency  to 
overlook  specific  work  for  others.  The  serious- 
minded  leader  will  not  be  altogether  satisfied 
in  merely  holding  boys  together  for  a  "good 
time,"  wholesome  as  that  may  be.  The  serv- 


The  Boy's  Religious  Life  141 

ice  ideal  must  be  incorporated  in  the  activi- 
ties of  the  club.  The  nascent  altruism  of  the 
boy  should  receive  impetus  and  direction  and 
the  members  should  engage  in  united  and  intelli- 
gent social  service.  Give  the  boy  a  worthy  job ; 
give  him  a  hard  job;  give  him  a  job  that  calls 
for  team  work;  and  give  him  help  and  appre- 
ciation in  the  doing  of  it. 

It  is  sometimes  difficult  to  devise  and  exe- 
cute a  program  of  this  kind  because  of  the 
limited  opportunities  of  the  particular  town 
in  which  the  club  exists  and  the  narrow  ideals 
of  the  church  with  which  the  club  is  affiliated. 
Yet  it  is  always  preferable  to  enlist  the  boys 
in  some  altruistic  enterprise  which  lies  close 
enough  at  hand  to  give  it  the  full  weight  of 
reality.  Only  so  can  we  satisfy  the  concrete 
value-judgment  of  the  young  matriculant  in  the 
great  school  of  applied  religion. 

This,  however,  should  not  be  to  the  exclusion 
of  those  vast  idealistic  movements  for  human 
good  embodied  in  world-wide  missionary  propa- 
ganda of  a  medical,  educational,  and  evangel- 
istic type.  Only,  taking  the  boy  as  he  is,  it  is 
not  best  to  begin  with  these,  because  of  their 
lack  of  reality  to  him  and  because  of  his  inabil- 
ity to  participate  except  by  proxy.  It  is  well 
that  he  should  extend  himself  to  some  far- 


142  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

away  need  by  contributing  of  his  means,  but 
these  gifts  will  get  their  proper  significance  and 
his  philanthropic  life  will  preserve  its  integrity 
by  performing  the  particular  service  which 
to  his  own  immediate  knowledge  needs  to  be 
done. 

The  proper  care  and  beautifying  of  the  streets 
and  public  places  in  his  own  community,  the 
collection  of  literature  for  prisoners  or  the 
inmates  of  asylums  or  hospitals  near  at  hand, 
supplying  play  equipment,  clothing,  or  any 
useful  thing  for  unfortunate  boys  in  congested 
city  districts,  helping  the  minister  and  church 
in  the  distribution  of  printed  matter  and  alms, 
aiding  smaller  boys  in  the  organization  of  their 
games,  helping  some  indigent  widow,  giving 
an  entertainment,  selling  tickets,  souvenirs, 
or  any  merchantable  article  which  they  may 
properly  handle  for  the  purpose  of  devoting 
the  profits  to  some  immediate  charity;  making 
for  sale  articles  in  wood,  metal,  or  leather  for 
the  same  purpose;  winning  other  boys  from 
bad  associations  to  the  better  influences  of  their 
own  group,  helping  in  the  conduct  of  public 
worship  by  song  or  otherwise,  acting  as  mes- 
sengers and  minute-men  for  the  pastor — some- 
thing of  this  sort  should  engage  part  of  their 
time  and  attention  in  order  that  they  may  be 


The  Boy's  Religious  Life  143 

drawn  into  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the 
church. 

Ordinarily  the  general  administration  of  the 
church  could  be  made  more  effective  and 
the  standard  activities  more  attractive  if  the 
preacher  would  keep  the  boy  in  mind  in  con- 
structing and  illustrating  his  sermons  and 
would  make  appeal  to  the  known  interests  of 
boyhood;  and  if  music  committees  would  adopt 
a  policy  for  the  development  and  use  of  his 
musical  ability  instead  of  stifling  and  ignoring 
this  valuable  religious  asset  and  rendering  the 
boy,  so  far  forth,  useless  to  and  estranged  from 
the  purposes  and  activities  of  the  church.  In 
church  music  the  paid  quartette  alone  means 
the  way  of  least  resistance  and  of  least  benefit, 
and  it  is  a  harmful  device  if  it  means  the  failure 
of  the  church  to  enlist  boys  in  the  rare  religious 
development  to  be  achieved  in  sacred  song  and 
in  participation  in  public  worship.  It  is  to 
be  regretted  that  hymns  suited  to  boyhood 
experience  are  very  rare  and  that  so  little  effort 
is  made  to  interest  and  use  the  boy  in  the  stated 
worship  of  the  church. 

But  if  these  evils  were  remedied  there  would 
still  be  the  problem  of  the  Sunday  school  which, 
although  generally  a  worthy  institution,  usually 
succeeds  at  the  cost  of  the  church-going  habit 


144  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

which  might  otherwise  be  cultivated  in  the 
boy.  To  make  a  Sunday-school  boy  instead 
of  a  church  boy  is  a  net  loss,  and  with  the 
present  Sunday  congestion  there  is  little  like- 
lihood of  securing  both  of  these  ends.  Prob- 
ably it  will  become  necessary  to  transfer  what 
is  now  Sunday-school  work  to  week-day  periods 
as  well  as  to  renovate  public  worship  before 
a  new  generation  of  churchmen  can  be  guar- 
anteed. 

In  the  meantime,  loyalty  cultivated  by  a 
variety  of  wholesome  contacts  largely  outside 
of  traditional  church  work  must  serve  to  win 
and  retain  the  boys  of  today.  For  loyalty  to 
the  minister  who  serves  them  readily  passes 
over  into  loyalty  to  the  church  which  he  like- 
wise serves.  Wherever  the  club  is  made  up 
predominantly  of  boys  from  the  church  families, 
it  will  be  well  to  have  an  occasional  service 
planned  especially  for  the  boys  themselves— 
one  which  they  will  attend  in  a  body.  Such  a 
Sunday-evening  service  for  boys  and  young  men 
may  be  held  regularly  once  a  month  with  good 
success,  and  the  value  of  such  meetings  is 
often  enhanced  by  short  talks  from  representa- 
tive Christian  laymen.  Demands  for  service 
as  well  as  the  important  questions  of  personal 
religion  should  be  dealt  with  in  a  manly, 


The  Boy's  Religious  Life  145 

straightforward  way.  Beating  about  the  bush 
forfeits  the  boy's  respect. 

In  preaching  to  boys  the  minister  will  appeal 
frankly  to  manly  and  heroic  qualities.  He 
will  advance  no  dark  premise  of  their  natural 
estrangement  from  God,  but  will  postulate  for 
all  a  sonship  which  is  at  once  a  divine  challenge 
to  the  best  that  is  in  them  and  the  guaranty 
that  the  best  is  the  normal  and  the  God- 
intended  life.  They  must  qualify  for  a  great 
campaign  under  the  greatest  soul  that  ever 
lived.  They  engage  to  stand  with  Him  against 
sin  in  self  and  in  all  the  world  about,  and  in 
proportion  as  they  take  on  His  mission  will 
they  realize  the  necessity  of  high  personal 
standards  and  of  that  help  which  God  gives 
to  all  who  are  dedicated  to  the  realization  of 
the  Kingdom. 

The  normal  boy  will  not  deliberately  choose 
to  sponge  upon  the  world.  He  intends  to  do 
the  fair  thing  and  to  amount  to  something. 
He  dreams  of  making  his  life  an  actual  con- 
tribution to  the  welfare  and  glory  of  humanity. 
When  it  is  put  before  him  rightly  he  will  scorn 
a  selfish  misappropriation  of  his  life,  and  will 
enter  the  crusade  for  the  city  that  hath  founda- 
tions whose  builder  and  maker  is  God.  Happy 
is  the  minister  who  has  boys  that  bring  their 


146  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

chums  to  see  him  for  the  purpose  of  enlistment. 
Happy  is  the  minister  whose  hand  often  clasps 
the  outstretched  hand  of  the  boy  pledging  him- 
self to  the  greatest  of  all  projects — the  King- 
dom of  God  in  the  earth;  to  the  greatest  of  all 
companies — the  company  of  those  who  in  all 
time  have  had  part  in  that  task;  and  to  the 
greatest  of  all  captains — Jesus  of  Nazareth. 


CHAPTER    IX 
THE  CHURCH  BOYS'  CLUB1 

Those  who  know  the  boy  best  can  hardly  be 
persuaded  that  the  Sunday  school  can  be  made 
to  satisfy  his  intense  demand  for  action.  Yet 
action  is  an  important  factor  in  religious 
education.  Commendable  efforts  are  being 
made  to  introduce  more  of  handicraft  and 
artistic  expression  into  the  work  of  the  Sunday- 
school  class;  but  from  the  boy's  point  of  view, 
the  making  of  maps,  illuminated  texts,  and 
temple  models  does  not  fully  meet  his  desire 
for  doing.  The  character  of  the  Sunday  school, 
its  place  of  meeting,  and  the  proper  observ- 
ance of  the  day  preclude  the  more  noisy,  varied, 
and  spontaneous  activities  which  may  be  made 
to  carry  moral  and  religious  value. 

Another  agency  is  needed  in  the  church  that 
can  be  more  venturesome  and  free  than  the 
Sunday  school,  an  agency  that  can  act  on  the 
parallel  of  the  boy's  natural  interests  and  adapt 
its  methods  to  his  unfolding  life  in  terms  of 
action.  The  Sunday  school  can  stick  to  its 

1  For  bibliography  see  William  B.  Forbush,  The  Coming  Genera- 
tion, D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  and  the  appendix  of  Handbook  for  Boys, 
The  Boy  Scouts  of  America. 

147 


148  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

task  of  elucidating  the  history  and  theory  of 
religion;  but  the  boys'  club  is  a  better  place  for 
securing  the  expression  of  religious  principles 
and  so  confirming  them  in  character.  When 
the  Sunday  school  shall  have  reached  its  highest 
point  of  efficiency  it  will  still  have  failed  to  cover 
the  most  vital  element  in  the  moral  and  religious 
training  of  the  boy  simply  because  it  will  still 
be  a  Sunday  school  and,  presumably,  a  Bible 
school.  That  is,  it  will  have  not  only  the  bene- 
fits but  also  the  limitations  of  the  sacred  day 
and  of  the  book  method  of  instruction.  The 
boy  needs  something  more  than  "a  society  for 
sitting  still." 

But  some  will  say,  "Why  take  the  boy  out  of 
the  home  at  all  ?  The  good  home,  the  public 
school,  and  the  established  agencies  of  religion 
are  enough.  A  club  is  not  needed."  It 
might  be  replied  that  all  boys  do  not  have  good 
homes  and  that  relatively  few  attend  church  or 
Sunday  school;  but  if  that  were  not  the  case 
the  desirability  of  the  boys'  club  would  still 
be  apparent.  The  fact  is  that  the  boy  gets 
out  of  the  home  anyway  and  seeks  his  group. 
There  is  a  process  of  socialization  and  self- 
discovery  for  which  the  best  home-circle  cannot 
provide;  and  the  club  only  recognizes  and  uses 
this  "gang"  instinct.  It  capitalizes  for  good  the 


The  Church  Boys'  Club  149 

normal  social  desires  of  the  boy.  In  so  doing 
it  does  not  necessarily  conflict  with  a  single 
good  element  in  the  home,  but  is  rather  the 
first  formal  token  of  citizenship  and  the  guaran- 
tor of  proper  deportment  in  the  midst  of  one's 
peers. 

In  a  well-directed  club  the  consensus  of 
opinion  will  usually  be  more  effective  in  secur- 
ing good  conduct  than  the  father's  neglected 
or  fitful  discipline  or  the  mother's  endless  for- 
bearance. The  boy  has  profound  respect  for 
the  judgment  of  his  equals;  and  wherever 
the  leader  can  make  the  group  ideals  right  he 
can  be  practically  assured  of  the  conformity 
of  all  who  come  within  the  group  influence. 
"The  way  we  do  here,"  "the  thing  we  stand 
for,"  constitutes  a  moral  leverage  that  removes 
mountains.  The  boy  that  has  been  too  much 
sheltered  needs  it,  the  boy  that  has  been  neg- 
lected and  is  whimsical  or  non-social  needs  it, 
the  only  son  often  needs  it,  and  the  boy  who  is 
distinguished  by  misconduct  in  the  Sunday- 
school  class  needs  it. 

The  club  is  never  justified,  then,  in  offending 
against  the  home.  Keeping  young  boys  out 
late  at  night,  interfering  with  home  duties 
or  with  the  implicit  confidence  between  a  boy 
and  his  parents,  or  dragging  him  off  into  some 


i$o  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

sectarian  camp  away  from  his  family  is  not  to 
be  tolerated.  This  is  never  necessary,  and  the 
wise  leader  can  always  co-operate  harmoniously 
with  the  home  if  he  takes  thought  so  to  do. 

But  the  leader  who  fails  to  recognize  the 
sanctity  and  priority  of  the  home,  who  permits 
his  interest  hi  boys  to  be  blind  to  home  con- 
ditions and  influence,  or  who  does  not  approach 
the  home  problems  as  a  reverent  and  intelli- 
gent helper  is  very  far  from  an  ideal  workman. 
One  great  advantage  of  the  small  club  in  the 
church  consists  in  this  personalized  and  teach- 
able interest  which  gets  in  close  by  the  side  of 
perplexed,  ignorant,  weak,  or  neglectful  parents 
and  seeks  to  raise  the  home  as  an  institution  so 
that  all  its  members,  including  the  boy,  may 
be  richly  benefited.  To  be  a  pastor  rather 
than  a  mere  herdsman  of  boys  one  must  know 
then-  fold.  It  is  well  enough  to  be  proud  of  the 
boys'  club  but  it  is  good  "boys'  work"  to  develop 
home  industry  and  to  encourage  habits  of 
thrift  and  of  systematic  work  that  shall  bless 
and  please  the  home  circle.  The  boy  may  far 
better  work  too  hard  for  the  communal  wel- 
fare of  the  home  than  to  grow  up  an  idle 
pleasure-seeking  parasite. 

It  is  taken  for  granted  that  the  wise  pastor 
will  think  twice  before  organizing  a  boys' 


The  Church  Boys1  Club  151 

club.  It  were  better  for  him  to  leave  the  whole 
enterprise  in  the  innocent  realm  of  his  castles 
in  Spain  than  to  add  another  failure  to  the 
many  that  have  been  made  in  this  attractive 
and  difficult  field.  Enthusiasm  is  essential,  but 
taken  alone  it  is  an  embarrassing  qualification. 
Therefore  he  should  make  a  careful  inventory 
of  his  available  assets.  If  he  contemplates 
personal  leadership  he  would  do  well  to  list 
his  own  qualifications.  In  any  event  he  will 
need  to  be  familiar  with  the  boy-life  of  his  com- 
munity, with  all  that  endangers  it  and  with  all 
that  is  being  done  to  safeguard  and  develop 
it  in  accord  with  Christian  ideals.  If  the  boys 
of  his  parish  are  already  adequately  cared  for 
he  will  not  feel  called  upon  to  bring  coals  to 
Newcastle. 

His  personal  inventory  must  needs  take  into 
account  his  tastes  and  ability.  These  will  be 
determined  frequently  by  the  mere  matter 
of  age;  for  undoubtedly  the  earlier  years  of 
one's  ministry  lie  a  little  nearer  to  the  interests 
of  boyhood  and  at  this  time  the  knack  of  the 
athletic  training  received  in  school  or  college 
has  not  been  wholly  lost.  The  leader  may 
recover  or  increase  his  ability  in  games  by 
taking  a  course  at  the  Y.M.C.A. 

If  he  finds  within  himself  a  deep  love  for 


152  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

boys  that  gets  pleasure  rather  than  irritation 
from  their  obstreperous  companionship,  if  he 
is  endowed  with  kindness  that  is  as  firm  as 
adamant  in  resisting  every  unfair  advantage— 
which  some  will  surely  seek  to  take — if  he  is 
noise-proof  and  furnished  with  an  ample  fund 
of  humor  that  is  scrupulously  clean  and  moder- 
ately dignified,  if  he  possesses  a  quiet,  positive 
manner  that  becomes  more  quiet  and  positive 
in  intense  and  stormy  situations,  if  he  is  withal 
teachable,  alert,  resourceful,  and  an  embodi- 
ment of  the  "  square-deal "  principle,  and  if  he  is 
prepared  to  set  aside  everything  that  might 
interfere  with  the  religious  observance  of  every 
single  appointment  with  his  boys — then  he 
may  consider  himself  eligible  for  the  attempt. 
But  how  will  he  go  about  it  ?  Shall  he  print 
posters  of  a  great  mass-meeting  to  organize  a 
boys'  club?  Shall  he  besiege  his  church  for 
expensive  equipment,  perhaps  for  a  new  build- 
ing? Shall  he  ask  for  an  appropriation  for 
work  which  most  of  the  people  have  not  seen, 
and  of  whose  value  they  cannot  judge  except 
from  his  enthusiastic  prophecies?  Let  us 
hope  not.  To  succeed  in  such  requests  might 
be  to  die  like  Samson;  while  to  fail  in  them 
would  be  a  testimony  to  the  sanity  of  his 
responsible  parishioners. 


The  Church  Boys1  Club  153 

There  is  a  better  way — a  way  that  is  more 
quiet,  natural,  and  effective.  Possibly  there 
is  already  in  the  Sunday  school  a  class  of  eight 
or  ten  boys  between  the  ages  of  twelve  and 
fifteen  years.  Let  the  pastor  become  well 
acquainted  with  them  and  at  first  merely 
suggest — in  their  class  session  or  when  he  has 
them  in  his  study  or  home — what  other  boys 
have  done  in  clubs  of  their  own.  He  need 
not  volunteer  to  provide  such  a  club,  but  merely 
indicate  his  willingness  to  help  if  they  are 
interested  and  prepared  to  work  for  it.  If 
the  boys  respond,  as  they  undoubtedly  will, 
then  the  pastor  will  need  to  find  a  few  sympa- 
thizers who  will  give  some  financial  and  moral 
assistance  to  the  endeavor.  He  may  find  some 
of  these  outside  the  church,  and  often  such 
friends  are  the  more  ready  to  help,  because  they 
are  not  already  taxed  to  carry  on  the  established 
church  work. 

The  best  policy  is  for  the  pastor  to  figure  out 
how  boys'  work  can  be  begun  without  coming 
before  the  church  for  an  appropriation.  It  is 
well  to  begin  in  a  very  humble  way  with  such 
funds  as  the  boys  can  raise  and  the  backing 
of  a  few  interested  people,  securing  from  the 
trustees  of  the  church  the  use  of  some  part  of 
the  premises  subject  to  recall  of  the  privilege 


154  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

on  sufficient  grounds;  and — a  consideration 
never  to  be  slighted  although  often  hard  to 
get — the  good-will  and  co-operation  of  the 
sexton.  With  the  sexton  against  him,  no 
pastor  can  make  a  church  boys'  club  succeed. 
The  club  will  make  no  mistake  in  paying  the 
church  something  for  the  heat  and  light  con- 
sumed. 

If  an  indoor  area  sufficient  for  basket-ball 
and  a  room  suited  to  club  meetings  can  be  had, 
the  initial  apparatus  for  winter  work  need 
not  exceed  a  parallel  bar,  a  vaulting-horse, 
and  three  floor  mats  in  addition  to  the  basket- 
ball equipment.  This  will  involve  an  outlay 
of  from  $75  to  $150.  Good  parallel  bars  are 
as  expensive  as  they  are  serviceable;  but  boys 
have  been  known  to  make  their  own,  and  this 
is  highly  desirable.  Indian  clubs,  dumb-bells, 
and  wands  may  only  prove  a  nuisance  unless 
they  can  be  carefully  put  away  after  the  exer- 
cises. Anyway,  boys  do  not  care  greatly  for 
calisthenics  and  most  drills  can  be  given  with- 
out these  trappings.  Granting  that  the  boys 
have  faithful  and  wise  supervision,  the  under- 
taking should  be  allowed  to  rest  upon  them  to 
the  full  measure  of  their  ability. 

When  it  has  become  clear  that  funds  and 
quarters  can  be  provided,  the  matter  of  forma 


The  Church  Boys1  Club  155 

organization  should  be  taken  up.  The  ideal 
church  club  is  not  a  mass  club  where  certain 
privileges  are  given  to  large  numbers  of  boys 
who  take  out  memberships;  but  a  group  club, 
or  clubs,  under  democratic  control.  Prior 
to  calling  the  boys  together  for  organization, 
the  pastor  will  have  blocked  out  the  main 
articles  of  a  constitution,  and  will  have  formu- 
lated some  ideas  as  to  the  ritual  and  procedure 
which  shall  have  place  in  the  weekly  meetings 
of  the  club.  In  order  to  do  this  intelligently, 
he  will  need  to  study  such  organizations  as 
the  Knights  of  King  Arthur  and  various 
independent  church  clubs  that  have  proven 
successful  in  fields  similar  to  his  own.  Often 
there  is  something  in  his  own  field  that  will 
lend  definite  color  and  interest  to  his  local 
organization.  The  following  sample  consti- 
tution is  offered  for  purpose  of  suggestion  only 
and  as  a  concession  to  the  sentiment  attach- 
ing to  my  first  boys'  club  of  a  dozen  years  ago. 

CONSTITUTION 

I.  We  be  known  as  the  Waupun  Wigwam. 

II.  For  to  be  sound  of  body,  true  of  heart,  unselfish, 
and  Christian  we  be  joined  together. 

III.  They  that  have  seen  ten  to  fourteen  summers 
may  join  our  Wigwam  one  by  one  if  we  want  them. 


156  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

High  names  have  we.    These  names  we  use  in  our 
Wigwam. 

IV.  At  our  meetings  around  the  Campfire  each 
Brave  is  Chief  in  turn  and  chooseth  one  to  guard  the 
entrance.    Medicine  Man  serveth  us  continually.     He 
knoweth   his   Braves.     He   chooseth   Right  Hand  to 
serve  him.    When  days  are  longest  and  when  days  are 
shortest  we  choose  one  to  write  what  we  do  in  Wig- 
wam, one  to  collect  small  wampum  and  one  to  keep 
the  same. 

V.  They  that  be  older  than  we,  they  that  be  our 
friends  may  visit  us  in  our  Wigwam.     Woman  by  us 
is  honored.     Chivalry  by  us  is  shown.    Whatever  is 
weak  is  by  us  protected. 

VI.  Measured  are  we  when  we  join  the  Wigwam  and 
once  a  year  thereafter — our  height,  calf  of  leg,  hip, 
chest,  and  arm.    This  by  Medicine  Man  who  keepeth 
the    writings    and    adviseth    how    to    improve.    He 
praiseth  what  good  we  do,  and  alloweth  not  "what 
harmeth  body,  defileth  tongue,  or  doeth  ill  to  mind." 

VII.  Small  wampum  pay  we  all  alike  according  to 
the  need  of  the  Wigwam  and  the  Campfire. 

VIII.  Deeds  of  valor  do  we  read  in  Wigwam  and 
Indian  tales  of  old.    Each  telleth  of  brave  deeds  he 
knows.    A    motto    have    we.    This    Medicine    Man 
giveth  every  three  moons.    We  have  our  war  whoop 
and  our  battle  song.     We  loyally  help  Medicine  Man 
in  his  work  and  when  he  speaketh  in  the  Great  Tent. 

IX.  When    admitted    to    the    Wigwam    we    very 
solemnly  vow  to  be  obedient  to  all  its  laws  and  to  try 
to  please  our  Great  High  Chief  in  Heaven  who  ruleth 
every  tribe,  World  without  end.    Amen. 


The  Church  Boys'  Club  157 

RITUAL 

THE  WIGWAM  WAY 

The  Braves  being  seated  in  a  semicircle,  the  Chief,  clad 
in  blanket  and  attended  by  Right  Hand,  enters.  All 
arise.  Chief  takes  position.  Waits  until  there  is  perfect 
silence. 

Chief:  My  trusted  and  loyal  Braves! 

All:  Hail  to  our  Chief! 

C.:  I  am  about  to  sit  with  you  around  our  friendly 

Campfire.  Brave  will  guard  the 

entrance  that  none  come  into  the  Wigwam  at  this 
time.  Let  such  as  be  of  our  Wigwam  advance  and 
prove  themselves. 

Each  Brave  comes  forward  in  turn,  whispers  the  motto 

in  the  Chiefs  ear  and  says,  May  I, ,  be 

known  as  a  loyal  Brave  of  the  Waupun  Wigwam? 

C.:  As  such  be  thou  known. 

All:  So  may  it  be!  (When  this  is  done  the  Chief 
continues.) 

C.:  For  what  are  we  bound  together? 

All:  For  to  be  sound  of  body,  true  of  heart,  unselfish, 
and  Christian  we  be  bound  together. 

C.:  What  virtues  are  the  greatest  ? 

All:  Faith,  hope,  and  love. 

C.:  Who  is  great? 

All:  He  that  serves. 

C.:  What  is  our  sign  ? 

All:  The  sign  of  the  cross. 

C.:  Sing  we  a  song  of  valor. 

All  sing:  "The  Son  of  God  goes  forth  to  war." 

C.:  Let  us  be  seated.  (He  gives  one  rap  with  the 
tomahawk.) 


158  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

C.:  Brave ,  admit  any  who  are  late 

and  have  given  you  the  motto. 

C.:  Medicine  Man  will  read  from  the  Book  and  pray. 
(All  kneel  for  the  prayer.) 

C.:  Brave  —  -  will  read  what  we  did  last. 

C.:  Brave  -  -  will  find  who  are  here. 

(Each  one  present  answers  "Ho"  when  his  name  is 
called). 

C.:  Brave -  \\ill  tell  what  wampum  we 

have. 

C.:  Is  there  any  business  to  come  before  our  Wig- 
wam? (Reports,  unfinished  business,  and  new  busi- 
ness.) 

C.:  Is  there  one  fit  to  join  our  Wigwam?  (// 
there  is  a  candidate  who  has  secured  his  parents'  consent 
and  who  at  a  previous  meeting  has  been  elected  to  member- 
ship with  not  more  than  two  ballots  against  him  he  can  be 
initiated  at  this  time.) 

C.:  Brave  Right  Hand,  what  shall  we  do  now? 
(Right  Hand  says  how  the  time  shall  be  spent.) 

CLOSING 

Chief  calls  to  order  with  a  whistle.  Each  Brave  takes 
his  place  quickly  and  quietly.  (Moccasins  or  gymnasium 
shoes  are  worn  in  all  Wigwam  sessions.) 

Chief  gives  two  raps.    All  arise. 

C.:  My  Braves,  we  are  about  to  leave  the  Campfire. 
Let  us  join  hands  and  repeat  our  covenant.  (All 
join  hands  and  repeat  clause  by  clause  after  the  Chief.) 

We  covenant  with  our  Chief  and  one  another: 

To  be  true  men, 

To  protect  the  weak, 


The  Church  Boys9  Club  159 

To  honor  woman, 
To  make  the  most  of  life, 
And  to  endeavor  to  please  God. 
So  do  we  covenant. 

Then  the  national  anthem  is  sung  and  the  following 
yell  is  given: 

Who  are  we  ? 

Chee  Poo  Kaw 

Waupun  Wigwam, 

Rah,  Rah,  Rah!  ! 

This  club  proved  of  value  in  a  town  of  three 
thousand  which  had  a  dozen  saloons  and  no 
organized  work  for  boys  or  young  men.  It 
was  supplemented  by  a  brotherhood  for  the 
older  boys.  In  the  clubroom  was  a  large  fire- 
place in  which  a  wood  fire  burned  during  the 
sessions.  The  room  could  be  partially  dark- 
ened. The  walls  were  covered  with  Indian 
pictures  and  handicraft,  and  the  surrounding 
country  abounded  in  Indian  relics.  In  the 
summer  the  club  went  camping  on  the  shore 
of  a  lake  nine  miles  distant.  From  another  of 
the  many  successful  clubs  of  this  type  the 
following  article  on  "Purpose"  as  stated  in 
the  constitution  is  worthy  of  note : 

"We  gather  in  our  Wigwam  that  we  may 
become  strong  as  our  bows,  straight  as  our 
arrows,  and  pure  as  the  lakes  of  the  forest." 

Clubs  patterned  after  rangers,  yeomen,  life- 


160  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

saving  crews,  and  what  not  have  been  suc- 
cessfully projected  to  meet  and  idealize  local 
interest;  and  the  novelty  and  slightly  con- 
cealed symbolism  seem  to  take  with  boys  of 
this  age.  But  the  most  important  factor  is 
never  the  organization  as  such  but  the  leader. 

For  the  period  of  from  fourteen  to  seventeen 
years  probably  no  better  organization  has  been 
devised  than  the  Knights  of  King  Arthur. 
Its  full  requirements  may  be  too  elaborate  in 
some  cases  but  freedom  to  simplify  is  granted, 
and  also  to  eliminate  the  requirement  of 
Sunday-school  attendance  as  a  prerequisite 
to  membership  and  the  requirement  of  church 
membership  as  a  prerequisite  to  knighthood. 
Leaders  dealing  with  this  age  should  read  The 
Boy  Problem  by  William  Byron  Forbush  and 
The  Boy's  Round  Table  by  Forbush  and  Mas- 
seek  (Boston  and  Chicago:  Pilgrim  Press, 
6th  edition,  $i  .00  each). 

Ordinarily  a  policy  of  relationship  between 
the  club  and  Sunday  school  and  church  will 
have  to  be  formulated.  It  is  always  best  to 
let  the  Sunday  school  and  the  church  stand  on 
their  own  merits  and  not  to  use  the  club  as  a 
bait  for  either.  Nor  should  ranking  in  the  club 
be  conditioned  on  church  membership.  Boys 
should  not  be  tempted  to  make  the  church  a 


The  Church  Boys'  Club  161 

stepping-stone  to  their  ambition  in  this  more 
attractive  organization.  The  best  policy  is 
that  of  the  "open  door."  Let  the  club  do  all 
that  it  can  for  boys  who  are  already  in  the 
Sunday  school  and  church,  but  let  it  be  open 
to  any  boy  who  may  be  voted  in,  and  then 
through  example  and  moral  suasion  let  such 
boys  be  won  to  church  and  Sunday  school  by 
the  wholesome  influence  of  the  leader  and  the 
group,  quite  apart  from  any  conditions,  favors, 
or  ranking  within  the  club  itself. 

An  unofficial  relation  between  the  Sunday 
school  and  the  club  will  be  maintained  by 
having  club  announcements  given  in  the  school 
and  by  bringing  the  Sunday-school  superin- 
tendent before  the  club  frequently.  In  some 
churches  the  boys'  whole  department  of  the 
Sunday  school  is  the  boys'  club,  and  this  may 
prove  a  good  method  where  it  can  be  carried 
out  with  proper  divisions  and  specialization 
as  to  age,  etc. 

In  discussing  any  proposed  constitution,  con- 
sideration should  be  given  to  suggestions  from 
the  boys  themselves  and  every  question  should 
be  threshed  out  in  a  reasonable,  democratic 
way,  strictly  after  the  fashion  of  deliberative 
bodies.  The  opinion  of  the  leader  is  sure  to 
have  its  full  weight,  and  matters  needing 


1 62  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

further  consideration  can  always  be  referred 
to  committees  to  be  reported  back.  Questions 
of  discipline  should  be  handled  by  the  club 
itself,  the  director  interfering  only  as  a  last 
resort  to  temper  the  drastic  reactions  of  a  youth- 
ful and  outraged  democracy.  If  there  is  a 
men's  organization  in  the  church  tie  the  club 
to  that.  This  will  guarantee  strength  and 
permanency  to  the  club  and  will  help  the  men 
by  giving  them  a  chance  to  help  the  boys. 

The  form  of  the  constitution  and  ritual  will 
be  governed  by  the  age  which  they  seek  to 
serve.  Boys  from  ten  to  fourteen  years  may 
not  rise  to  the  splendid  formality  of  the  Knights 
of  King  Arthur.  Possibly  the  idealization  of 
the  best  Indian  traits  will  serve  them  better. 
From  fourteen  to  seventeen  or  eighteen  the 
knighthood  ideals  are  most  satisfying,  while 
one  may  question  their  utility  after  that  when 
the  youth  turns  to  reflection  and  debate  and 
is  suited  by  civic  and  governmental  forms  of 
organization.  It  must  not  be  assumed  that 
any  one  type  of  organization  is  good  for  all 
ages  and  does  not  need  to  be  supplemented, 
modified,  or  superseded  as  the  boy  makes  his 
adolescent  ascent. 

If  the  pastor  has  limited  time  and  limited 
help  he  will  do  well  to  center  his  attention  on 


The  Church  Boys'  Club  163 

the  important  period  of  twelve  to  fifteen  years; 
and  in  order  to  do  his  work  properly  in 
the  club  meetings  and  on  the  gymnasium  floor 
especially,  he  should  have  an  adult  helper  as 
soon  as  the  attendance  exceeds  ten  in  number. 
It  is  far  more  important  to  do  the  training  well 
than  to  make  a  great  showing  in  numbers  and 
at  the  same  time  fail  in  creating  a  proper  group 
standard  and  in  developing  individual  boys. 
In  the  ordinary  improvised  church  gymnasium 
one  man  to  every  ten  boys  is  a  good  rule. 

In  a  church  club  that  grew  to  have  a  mem- 
bership of  sixty,  the  following  grouping  for 
gymnasium  privileges  was  found  to  work  well: 
boys  ten,  eleven,  and  twelve  years  old,  from 
4:15  to  5:30  in  the  afternoon;  boys  thirteen, 
fourteen,  and  fifteen  years  old,  from  7:00  to 
8:15  the  same  evening ;  and  boys  sixteen,  seven- 
teen, and  eighteen  years  old,  from  8 : 15  to  9 : 30. 
Such  a  use  of  the  plant  secures  economy  of  time, 
heating,  etc.,  and  with  a  little  help  one  may 
give  every  boy  two  gymnasium  sessions  a  week, 
which  is  not  too  much.  If  possible,  showers 
and  lockers  should  be  provided;  and  in  classi- 
fication for  gymnasium  work  allowance  should 
be  made  for  retarded  boys  and  for  boys  of 
extraordinary  ability,  so  that  they  may 
play  with  their  equals  irrespective  of  strict 


164  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

classification  by  age.  The  best  single  test  for 
classification  is  weight. 

The  leader  will  do  well  to  see  that  everything 
is  right  and  clean  in  conversation  and  practice 
in  the  locker-room  and  showers.  Also,  foolish 
prudery  and  shamefacedness  must  be  whole- 
somely banished,  and  it  will  benefit  rather  than 
harm  the  boys  for  their  leader,  after  having 
taken  them  through  the  exercises,  to  join 
them  hi  the  pleasure  and  stimulation  of  the 
shower  bath. 

Not  only  the  leader  but  as  many  interested 
church  people  as  possible  should  "back"  the 
boys  by  attending  their  meets  and  games  with 
other  teams.  Remember  that  in  order  to  com- 
mand their  full  loyalty  some  loyalty  to  them 
must  be  shown.  The  important  function  of 
the  annual  or  semi-annual  banquet  should  not 
be  overlooked.  Such  an  affair  is  inexpensive 
and  unquestionably  an  event  in  the  life  of 
every  member.  The  mothers  will  always  be 
glad  to  provide  the  food  and  superintend  the 
service;  and  in  every  town  there  will  be  found 
men  of  high  standing  who  will  count  it  an  honor 
to  address  the  club  on  such  an  occasion,  while 
entertainers  and  musicians  will  also  gladly 
contribute  their  talent.  Probably  the  average 
minister  does  not  duly  appreciate  how  much 


The  Church  Boys'  Club  165 

high-grade  assistance  may  be  had  for  the  mere 
asking  and  how  much  benefit  comes  to  those 
who  give  of  their  ability  as  well  as  to  those  who 
are  the  fortunate  recipients  of  such  service. 

The  clubroom  rapidly  grows  rich  in  associa- 
tions as  it  becomes  decorated  with  the  symbols 
of  the  club  and  the  trophies  won  from  time  to 
time.  Things  that  have  happened  but  a  year 
ago  become  entrancing  lore  to  a  group  of  boys, 
and  the  striking  features  of  meetings,  outings, 
or  contests  lose  nothing  in  sentiment  and  co- 
hesive worth  as  the  months  pass.  The  sophis- 
ticated adult  may  not  fully  appreciate  these 
little  by-products  of  club  activity,  but  the  boy 
who  is  growing  into  his  social  and  larger  self 
makes  every  real  incident  a  jewel  rich  in  associa- 
tion and  suggestive  of  the  continuity  and  one- 
ness of  his  group  life.  The  use  of  an  appropriate 
pin  or  button,  of  club  colors,  yells,  whistles,  and 
secret  signals  will  bear  fruit  a  hundred  fold  in 
club  consciousness  and  solidarity. 

Summer  is  especially  hard  on  the  city  boy. 
If  there  is  no  vacation  school,  wholesome  out- 
door job,  or  satisfactory  play,  then  mischief  is 
certain.  Indoor  life  is  particularly  distaste- 
ful during  the  hot  weather  and  the  flat  is 
intolerable.  Long  hours  and  late  are  spent 
upon  the  street  or  in  places  of  public  amuse- 


1 66  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

ment  where  immoral  suggestions  abound.  High 
temperature  always  weakens  moral  resistance 
and  there  is  no  telling  into  what  trouble  the 
boy  may  drift.  Hence  to  relinquish  boys' 
work  in  the  summer  is  to  fail  the  boy  at  the 
very  time  of  his  greatest  need.  The  com- 
petent leader  does  not  abandon,  he  simply 
modifies  his  endeavor.  As  early  in  the  spring 
as  the  boys  prefer  outdoor  play  he  is  with  them 
for  baseball,  track  work,  tennis,  swimming, 
tramping,  fishing,  hunting,  camping;  closing 
the  season  with  football  and  remaining  out 
until  the  boys  are  eager  to  take  up  indoor  work. 
The  lack  of  formal  meetings  in  the  summer  need 
not  concern  the  leader.  It  is  sufficient  that 
he  give  the  boys  his  fellowship  and  supervision 
and  keep  them  well  occupied. 

In  all  of  this  outdoor  work  the  program  and 
activities  of  the  Boy  Scouts  of  America  are 
unsurpassed.  In  cultivating  the  pioneer  vir- 
tues and  in  promoting  health,  efficiency,  good 
citizenship,  nature-study,  and  humane  ideals  no 
movement  for  boys  has  ever  held  such  promise, 
and  the  promise  will  be  realized  if  only  Scout 
Masters  in  proper  number  and  quality  can  be 
secured.  Here  again  the  gauntlet  is  thrown 
at  the  door  of  the  church  and  the  challenge  is  to 
her  manhood  from  the  manhood  of  tomorrow. 


CITY   BOYS   "HIKING" 


A  WEEK-END    CAMP 


The  Church  Boys'  Club  167 

The  ideal  club  will  have  its  summer  outing. 
When  properly  planned  and  conducted,  a 
summer  camp  is  of  all  things  to  be  desired.  For 
several  months  it  should  be  enjoyed  in  antici- 
pation, and  if  all  goes  well  it  will  be  a  joyous 
climax  of  club  life,  an  experience  never  to 
be  forgotten.  But  like  all  good  work  with 
boys,  it  is  difficult  and  exacting.  Safety  and 
the  rights  of  all  cannot  be  conserved  apart  from 
strict  military  or  civic  organization;  and  no 
leader  will  take  boys  to  camp  and  assume 
responsibility  for  life  and  limb  without  a 
thorough  understanding  and  acceptance  on 
their  part  of  the  discipline  and  routine  which 
must  be  scrupulously  enforced. 

Every  boy  should  be  provided  well  in  advance 
with  a  list  of  the  utensils  and  outfit  needed, 
and  the  organization  of  the  camp  should  give 
to  each  one  his  proper  share  of  work.  The 
efficiency  and  dispatch  of  a  corps  of  boys  so 
organized  is  only  equaled  by  the  joy  that  comes 
from  the  vigorous  and  systematic  program  of 
activities  from  daylight  to  dark. 

The  best  way  for  the  leader  to  become  pro- 
ficient in  conducting  a  camp  is  to  take  an  outing 
with  an  experienced  manager  of  a  boys'  camp; 
the  next  best  way  is  by  conference  with  such  a 
person.  The  Handbook  of  the  Boy  Scouts  of 


1 68  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

America  will  be  found  very  helpful  in  this 
respect,  and  Camping  for  Boys  by  H.  W. 
Gibson,  Y.M.C.A.  Press,  is  excellent.  It  is 
necessary  to  emphasize  the  necessity  of  strict 
discipline  and  regularity,  a  just  distribution  of 
all  duties,  full  and  vigorous  use  of  the  time, 
extra  precaution  against  accident,  some  formal 
religious  exercise  at  the  beginning  of  the  day, 
with  the  use  of  the  rare  opportunity  for  intimate 
personal  and  group  conference  at  the  close  of 
the  day  when  the  charm  of  the  campfire  is 
upon  the  lads.  When  boys  are  away  from 
home  and  in  this  paradise  of  fellowship  their 
hearts  are  remarkably  open  and  the  leader 
may  get  an  invaluable  insight  into  their  inmost 
character. 

Whenever  possible  the  minister  will  bring  his 
boys'  club  work  into  co-operation  with  the 
boys'  department  of  the  Y.M.C.A.  Where 
the  Y.M.C.A.  exists  and  the  church  cannot 
have  moderate  gymnasium  privileges  of  its 
own,  arrangements  should  be  made  for  the 
regular  use  of  the  association's  gymnasium. 
It  is  desirable  that  the  stated  use  of  the  gym- 
nasium be  secured  for  the  club  as  such,  since 
the  individual  use  in  the  general  boys'  work 
of  the  association  is  not  as  favorable  to  build- 
ing up  a  strong  consciousness  in  the  church 


The  Church  Boys'  Club  169 

club.  The  Y.M.C.A.  can  best  organize  and 
direct  the  inter- church  athletics  and  it  has 
performed  a  great  service  for  the  church  clubs 
in  organizing  Sunday-school  athletic  leagues  in 
the  various  cities,  and  in  supplying  proper 
supervision  for  tournaments  and  meets  in 
which  teams  from  the  different  churches  have 
participated.  To  direct  these  contests  properly 
has  been  no  small  tax  upon  the  officials,  for  the 
insatiable  desire  for  victory  has  in  some  cases 
not  only  introduced  unseemly  and  ugly  features 
into  the  contests  but  has  temporarily  lowered 
the  moral  standard  of  certain  schools. 

Superintendents  and  pastors  have  been 
known  to  sign  entrance  credentials  for  boys  who 
were  not  eligible  under  the  rules.  In  some 
instances  church  boys  have  descended  to 
welcome  the  "ringer"  for  the  purpose  of 
"putting  it  over"  their  competitors.  In  grap- 
pling with  these  difficulties  and  in  interpret- 
ing sound  morality  in  the  field  of  play  the 
Y.M.C.A.  has  already  made  a  successful  con- 
tribution to  the  moral  life  of  the  Sunday-school 
boy.  Nothing  could  be  more  startling  to  the 
religious  leader,  who  insists  upon  facing  the 
facts,  than  the  facility  with  which  the  "good" 
Sunday-school  boy  turns  away  from  the  lofty 
precepts  of  his  teacher  to  the  brutal  ethics 


170  The  Minister  and  the  Boy 

of  the  "  win-at-any-price  "  mania.  The  Sunday- 
School  Athletic  League  under  the  guidance  of 
the  Y.M.C.A.  tends  to  overcome  this  vicious 
dualism. 

In  some  districts  the  leader  of  the  church 
boys'  club  may  arrange  to  make  use  of  the 
social  settlement,  civic  center,  or  public  play- 
ground, thus  holding  his  group  together  for 
their  play  and  supplementing  the  church  outfit. 
The  object  in  every  case  is  to  maintain  and 
strengthen  a  group  so  possessed  of  the  right 
ideals  that  it  shall  shape  for  good  the  conduct 
and  character  of  the  members  severally.  To 
the  many  ministers  who  despair  of  being  able  to 
conduct  a  club  in  person  it  should  be  said  that 
young  men  of  sixteen  or  seventeen  years  of 
age  make  excellent  leaders  for  boys  of  twelve 
to  fifteen  years,  and  that  they  are  more  available 
than  older  men. 

These  leaders,  including  the  teachers  of 
boys'  classes,  should  come  together  for  con- 
ference and  study  at  least  once  a  month.  The 
Y.M.C.A.  will  be  the  most  likely  meeting-place, 
and  its  boys'  secretary  the  logical  supervisor 
of  inter-church  activities.  Wherever  there  is 
no  such  clearing-house,  the  ministers'  meeting 
or  the  inter-church  federation  may  bring  the 
boys'  leaders  together  for  co-operation  on  a 


The  Church  Boys'  Club  171 

community-wide  scale.  The  multiplication  of 
clubs  is  to  be  desired,  both  for  the  extension  of 
boys'  work  throughout  all  the  churches,  and 
for  the  development  of  such  inter-church 
activities  among  boys  as  will  make  for  mutual 
esteem  and  for  the  growing  unity  of  the  church 
of  God. 


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